U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro on Thursday named Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, as members of the West Virginia National Guard who were shot a day earlier, just blocks from the White House.
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He said both service members have undergone surgery and are in critical condition. They were deployed in the US capital as part of what President Donald Trump has described as an anti-crime initiative.
“A lone gunman, armed with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver, opened fire in an unprovoked ambush,” Pirro told reporters at a press conference.
The attacker has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who came to the US amid the withdrawal of Western forces from Afghanistan in 2021.
Pirro said Lakanwal was a resident of Washington state and had traveled around the country before the attack.
He has been charged with three counts of assault with intent to murder and possession of a firearm. He remains hospitalized with wounds that officials say are not life-threatening.
Pirro, the former Fox News host, said charges could be upgraded if any of the National Guard members are injured.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel said the attack was being investigated as “terrorism” and a search warrant had been issued at Lakanwal’s home.
Speaking earlier on Fox News, US Attorney General Pam Bondy said the injured personnel were “fighting for their lives”.
He said, “Everyone, pray for these two soldiers today, these two saviors, man and woman.” “But if something happens, I’ll tell you right now, I’ll tell you quickly that we will do everything in our power to seek the death penalty against that man.”
The attack comes at a time when Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard in Washington, DC and other cities across the country is coming under intense scrutiny.
Trump has said the deployment is needed to respond to high crime rates in the US capital. Critics condemned the move as a provocative show of force out of step with the needs of the federal district.
Last week a judge ruled that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard was illegal but enforcement of the decision was delayed until December 11.
Following Thursday’s attacks, the Trump administration immediately ordered 500 more National Guard troops to Washington, DC, to add to the approximately 2,200 service members already stationed there.
re-examination of afghans
In the wake of the attack, the Trump administration promised to “re-vest every single alien entering our country from Afghanistan under (former President Joe) Biden.”
The administration also announced it was halting all processing of “immigration requests involving Afghan nationals.”
On Thursday, Trump officials continued to focus on the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, which came after a deal struck between Trump and the Taliban during the Republican leader’s first term.
Amid the withdrawal, the Biden administration launched “Operation Ally Welcome” to quickly transfer Afghans to the US, including those who had served with the US military and Western institutions in Afghanistan for more than two decades.
About 77,000 Afghans came to America under the program.
On Thursday, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement that the attacker had worked with the agency “as a member of the partner force” in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar before coming to the US.
The attack has stoked fear among Afghan evacuees in the US and those still seeking transfer from Afghanistan, many already troubled by the Trump administration’s harsh restrictions on refugees and asylum seekers.
Many Afghans who served with US and Western forces face threats of reprisals from the Taliban government.
In a statement, Shawn VanDiver, president of the AfghanEvac humanitarian advocacy group, urged “the media, elected leaders and decision makers, and influential others not to vilify the Afghan community for the deranged choices made by this individual”.
Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, echoed that sentiment, saying that “the entire Afghan community should not be punished because of the actions of one person”.
“That would be extremely unfair and complete nonsense,” he said. “A cool mind must prevail.”
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