- “Trump calls the attack a “terrorist” act and calls the shooter a “wild monster.”
- He says security is the top priority and seeks strict immigration control.
- Blame the attack on failures in the Biden-era immigration investigation.
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Thursday that a member of the National Guard had died after being shot in an ambush by an Afghan national near the White House, an attack that sparked accusations from his administration of failures in the Biden-era immigration investigation and prompted a sweeping review of asylum cases.
Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries and fellow Guard member Andrew Wolfe, 24, was “fighting for his life,” Trump said, as investigators conducted what officials said was a terrorism investigation after Wednesday’s shooting.
The FBI searched several properties in a widening investigation, including a home in Washington state linked to the suspect, who officials said was part of a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan before arriving in the United States in 2021 under a resettlement program.
Agents seized numerous electronic devices from the residence of the suspect, identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, including cellphones, laptops and iPads, and interviewed his family members, FBI Director Kash Patel said at a news conference.
U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, said the suspect drove across the country and then ambushed Guard members as they patrolled near the White House on Wednesday afternoon.
Trump expresses outrage over attack
“I want to express the anguish and horror of our entire nation over yesterday’s terrorist attack on our nation’s capital, in which a savage monster shot and killed two service members of the West Virginia National Guard, who were deployed as part of Task Force DC,” Trump said in a Thanksgiving call to U.S. military service members.
Trump said the suspect’s “atrocity reminds us that we have no higher national security priority than ensuring that we have complete control over the people who enter and remain in our country.”
Armed with a powerful revolver, a .357 Magnum, the gunman shot one member who fell and then fired again before shooting the second member several times. The gunman was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with members of the Guard before being arrested. He was in the hospital under heavy guard Thursday and Trump said he was in serious condition.
The alleged attacker acted alone
The alleged gunman, who lived in Washington state with his wife and five children, appeared to have acted alone, said Jeff Carroll, executive deputy chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.
