WASHINGTON — Two National Guardsmen were ambushed in what the mayor has called an apparent targeted shooting near the White House in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, leaving them in critical condition.
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, said during the press conference.
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 2025, under the Trump administration, according to three law enforcement sources.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted on X that the suspect entered the U.S. “under Operation Allies Welcome on September 8, 2021.”
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 a statement on Thursday.
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.
FBI Director Kash 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, officials said Thursday.
“Somebody drove across the country to Washington, D.C., to attack America,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Patel added that this is a “coast-to-coast investigation.”
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.
In an address on Wednesday night, President Donald 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 added.
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, a woman and a man deployed from West Virginia, were conducting “high visibility patrols” at the time of the attack, according to law enforcement officials.
They have been identified as 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, according to US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital.
They are being treated at area hospitals and are in critical condition, officials 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 President Trump’s federal takeover of the city in August. According to the most recent update, there are 2,188 Guard personnel assigned to D.C.