2 hours ago
The suspected shooter of two national guard members in Washington DC on Wednesday worked with CIA-backed military units during the US war in Afghanistan, the agency has confirmed.
The alleged gunman, identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, came to the US in September 2021 under an Operation Allies Welcome program that gave some Afghans who had worked for the US government entry visas to the US. He was granted asylum in April this year, under the Trump administration, Reuters reported.
Lakanwal’s ties to the Central Intelligence Agency, which worked alongside US special forces in Afghanistan, were confirmed by the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, to media outlets.
The New York Times reported that the shooting suspect had worked for several US government agencies in Afghanistan, including CIA-backed units in the southern province of Kandahar, a stronghold of the Taliban.
The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, said those CIA-backed units included counterterrorism squads known as the “zero units”, which were involved in combat missions to seize or kill suspected terrorists.
“The Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the US government, including CIA,” Ratcliffe told Fox News digital, adding that Lakanwal’s involvement with the agency was “as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation”.
The two victims in the attack were named as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24. Both are members of the West Virginia national guard .
Beckstrom succumbed to her injuries on Thursday evening, Donald Trump said. Beckstrom’s father had told the New York Times in a phone call earlier in the day that his daughter was unlikely to recover. “I’m holding her hand right now,” Gary Beckstrom said. “She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery.”
Wolfe was fighting for his life, according to the president.
Both Beckstrom and Wolfe had both been sworn into service less than 24 hours before they were ambushed at a bus stop by the suspect.
A man reached at the family home of Wolfe told a reporter at the outlet: “All we need right now are prayers for my son.”
Jeanine Pirro, US attorney for Washington DC, said at a news conference Thursday that the suspect had used a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver, shooting one guard member twice before turning to fire at the second.
She said the two wounded national guards had “put their lives on the line to protect people they don’t even know”.
Other national guard members at the scene had engaged and neutralized the suspect, she said.
The suspect is under arrest and being treated at a hospital.
Pirro said he drove across the US from his home in Bellingham, Washington, with a plan to conduct what she called a “brazen and targeted” assault.
The prosecutor said Lakanwal would be charged with three counts of a assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Pirro said that if the national guard members do not survive, then charges could be increased to murder in the first degree.
The FBI director, Kash Patel, told the news conference the agency is investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism. Law enforcement agencies had executed search warrants at the suspect’s home in Washington and in San Diego, California.
“This is a coast-to-coast investigation,” Patel said.
The mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, who has criticized the Trump administration’s deployment of national guard in the district, said: “These young people should be at home in West Virginia with their families.”
Patel also confirmed the suspect’s relationship with US forces in Afghanistan. The investigation, he said, would include any known associates of the suspect overseas and in the US.
Following the shooting, Donald Trump ordered 500 additional national guard troops to Washington DC.
He was quick to cast the blame for the shooting on the Biden administration, accusing it of failing to properly vet migrants from Afghanistan. And he signalled he considered the attack justification for a broad review of asylum and green card applications.
“We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden, and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here, or add benefit to our country,” Trump said on Wednesday. “If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them.”
The leaders of several federal agencies have promised reviews.US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said that it has stopped processing residency applications from Afghan nationals.
“Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols,” the agency said on social media.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) meanwhile it was expanding that to include a review of all asylum cases approved under the Biden administration. DHS did not clarify whether it is reviewing all asylum cases from only Afghanistan or from other countries, as well.
The USCIS director, Joseph Edlow, later added he was also directing a “full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every green card for every alien from every country of concern” at Trump’s request. When asked what countries were considered “of concern,” USCIS pointed at Trump’s executive order restricted the entry to the US of nationals of 19 countries.
