The suspect who shot and killed two West Virginia National Guard soldiers in Washington, DC, on Thanksgiving eve struggled with his mental health, sometimes spending “up to weeks” in isolation, as he struggled to assimilate in the years after arriving in the United States, it has emerged.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal’s mental health had been deteriorating for years, leaving him unable to hold down a job and swinging between long, dark isolation and sudden cross-country drives for weeks, according to emails obtained by The Associated Press.
The emails reveal growing alarm about Lakanwal, whose erratic conduct had raised concerns long before last week’s attack. His behavior worsened so much that a community advocate reached out to a refugee organization for help, fearing he was becoming suicidal. However, they found no indication that Lakanwal would commit violence against another person.
Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died and Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition in the shooting. Lakanwal, 29, has been charged with first-degree murder. He was shot by another National Guard member during the incident and is also hospitalized.
In Afghanistan, Lakanwal served in a special CIA-backed Afghan Army unit known as Zero Unit. They entered the US in 2021 through Operation Ally’s Welcome, a Biden-era program that evacuated and resettled thousands of Afghans following the chaotic US withdrawal. Many had worked with American soldiers and diplomats.
According to the community member, he resettled in Bellingham, USA with his wife and five sons under the age of 12, but struggled to assimilate.
The email described a man who was unable to hold down a steady job or commit to his English courses, while he alternated between “periods of dark isolation and reckless travel.” At times, he would spend weeks in his “dark room”, not speaking to anyone, not even his wife or older children. At one point in 2023, the family faced eviction after not paying rent for months.
In an email sent January 31, 2024, a case worker said Lakanwal “was not functional as a person, father, and provider since March 03/2023 last year.”
The case worker, who supported several Afghan families and spoke to Lakanwal through an interpreter, described her as a very compassionate host for CBS News, talkative and charismatic, and said a profound change in her personality was noticeable in 2024.
A former Afghan commando told the outlet that Lakanwal was deeply troubled by the death in 2024 of a close friend and fellow Afghan commander, whom the former commando said had unsuccessfully sought asylum in the US.
But then, there were also “interim” weeks where Lacanval would try to improve and “do the right things,” according to the email, including reconnecting with Washington State’s Department of Social and Health Services, as was mandated by the terms of his entry into the US. “But this rapidly evolved into ‘manic’ episodes lasting a week or two, where he would leave in the family car and drive without stopping,” the email said. Once he went to Chicago and second time to Arizona.
In response to two emails, the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) visited Bellingham a few weeks later in March 2024 and attempted to contact Lakanwal and his family, the AP reported.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said last week that Lacanval drove across the country from Bellingham, about 80 miles north of Seattle, to the nation’s capital.
“Rahmanullah was a man who was extremely proud and capable in the world he came from, and he felt lost in the world he came from,” the case worker told CBS News.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that Lakanwal “has been radicalized since he came to this country.” “We believe it was through connections in his home community and state, and we will continue to talk to people who interacted with him,” he said, without giving any further details.
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