(WASHINGTON) — Two National Guardsmen were ambushed Wednesday in the nation’s capital in what officials are calling a “targeted shooting.”
The suspected gunman has been identified by law enforcement as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal. He will be charged with three counts of assault with the intent to kill while armed and criminal possession of a weapon, officials said during a press conference on Thursday.
“You picked the wrong target, the wrong city and the wrong country and you will be sorry for the violence and the evil you perpetrated in our nation’s capital,” Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters Thursday.
After the President Donald Trump announced the death of one of the guardsmen injured in the shooting, Pirro said Friday the suspect’s charges would be upgraded to first-degree murder. It is unclear when those charges will be unsealed.
“There are certainly many more charges to come, but we are upgrading the initial charges of assault to murder in the first degree,” Pirro said on “Fox & Friends” on Friday.
Lakanwal is believed to be from Afghanistan and came to the United States in 2021 under the Biden administration, law enforcement sources said. He applied for asylum in 2024 and was granted asylum in April, under the Trump administration, according to the sources.
The suspect, who has a wife, five children and a brother in the U.S., allegedly had been unable to find a job because he had an expired work permit, according to a source familiar with the suspect’s circumstance.
Lakanwal, who had become more isolated the past few months and was growing desperate, could not pay rent or food and was relying on others, the source added.
When asked Thursday about when the suspect was granted asylum, FBI Director Kash Patel did not answer, instead referring to a statement from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
He was likely vetted before being granted asylum this year. According to Noem, there have been 8,000 such individuals since Trump took office. Noem and Patel have both suggested in recent congressional testimony that the administration had carefully scrutinized all of them.
“During my tenure, we are going through the databases to make sure that no known or suspected terrorists enter this country to harm our nation,” Patel told the Senate Judiciary Committee in September.
Gunman previously worked for the CIA
The suspect previously worked with the U.S. government, including the CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, “which ended in 2021 following the withdrawal from Afghanistan,” according to CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
“This individual — and so many others — should have never been allowed to come here,” Ratcliffe said.
In Afghanistan, the suspect was involved with the Zero Unit, working closely with the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The suspect was a trusted member of that team, which went after U.S. counterterrorism targets, according to sources.
Sources said the FBI is currently investigating the shooting as a potential act of international terrorism, suggesting authorities are trying to determine if it may have been inspired by an international terrorist organization.
Patel said officials are looking into whether the suspect had any associates overseas.
Drove across the country to the nation’s capital
Officials said the suspect has a wife and five children. He drove from his residence in Washington state to the nation’s capital prior to the shooting and targeted the Guardsmen, officials said.
“Somebody drove across the country to Washington, D.C., to attack America,” said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
A search warrant was conducted at the suspect’s home in Bellingham, Washington, where officials found “numerous electronic devices,” Patel said.
Patel added that this is a “coast-to-coast investigation.” Officials are interviewing individuals at the suspect’s home and in San Diego, where the alleged shooter has ties, Patel said.
In addition to his wife and children, sources familiar with the investigation said the suspect has a brother in the United States.
Guardsmen were ambushed by the suspect
Pirro said the gunman, who “opened fire without provocation, ambush style,” struck one of the victims, leaned over and shot the individual again. The suspect then shot the other Guard member “several times.”
The weapon used in the shooting was a .357 Smith &Wesson revolver, officials said.
The suspect allegedly got shot by a third member of the National Guard and then was subdued, but officials did not say how many shots were fired at or by the suspect.
In an address on Wednesday night, Trump confirmed that the suspected gunman is believed to have entered the U.S. from Afghanistan.
“It was a crime against our entire nation,” he said. “It was a crime against humanity.”
Trump said the shooting “underscores the single greatest national security threat facing our nation” and the U.S. “must now reexamine every single alien from Afghanistan who has entered our country 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.”
The Guard members, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and 24-year-old Anrew Wolfe, were conducting “high visibility patrols” at the time of the attack, according to law enforcement officials.
On Thursday, Trump announced Beckstrom, an Army specialist, had died. Wolfe, a U.S. Air Force staff sergeant, remains in critical condition, Trump said.
The condition of the suspect has not been released.
Pirro said that the suspect’s charges could change depending on the conditions of the victims. If the two Guard members do not survive, Pirro said the suspect will be charged with first-degree murder.
A motive has not immediately been determined; however, Bowser said the individual “appeared to target” the Guard members.
“What we know is that this is a targeted shooting and one individual appeared to target these guardsmen,” according to Bowser.
Patel said the case is being carried out as an attack on a federal law enforcement officer, adding that the victims are “heroes.”
The National Guard was deployed to the nation’s capital as part of Trump’s federal takeover of the city in August. There are 2,188 National Guard personnel assigned to D.C., according to the most recent update.
ABC News’ Cindy Smith and Martha Raddatz contributed to this report.
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