Trump: National Guard Soldier Who Was Shot in Washington Has Died; Second Soldier Fighting for His Life
A twenty-year-old National Guard soldier wounded near the White House has died from her injuries, while a second soldier remains in critical condition. The suspect, an Afghan national previously granted asylum, is being investigated for terrorism, and U.S. authorities are examining his family’s status.
Sarah Bakstrom, age twenty, one of the two soldiers shot near the White House, has died from her wounds.
The American president announced that Andrew Wolfe, age twenty-four, is fighting for his life, and later spoke with Bakstrom’s parents: “I will consider attending the funeral.” Trump said that the shooter, Rahmanallah Lakanwal, is in serious condition and hinted at the possibility of deportation: “We are examining the status of his family.”
According to CNN, Trump spoke with Bakstrom’s parents and later said that the family is devastated and that he would consider attending the funeral in West Virginia.
Her father, Gary, told the New York Times last night that his daughter was not expected to survive the shooting.
“I am holding her hand right now,” he said.
Lakanwal, married and a father of five, arrived in the United States from Afghanistan four years ago and was granted asylum by the Trump administration.
After the president said yesterday that he intends “to re-examine every single Afghan national” who entered the United States during Joe Biden’s term, he stated overnight that “we are examining the status of the family of the shooting suspect.”
The soldiers, who serve in the West Virginia National Guard, were shot on Wednesday evening (Israel time).
It was reported that they were critically wounded, apparently after a firefight with the suspect, who opened fire near a subway station.
Shortly after the shooting, Trump said the soldiers “were shot at point-blank range in a monstrous, ambush-style attack, just steps from the White House.
This horrific attack was an act of evil, an act of hatred, and an act of terror.
It was a crime against our nation and against all humanity.”
Last night, additional details were released in the United States about Lakanwal, the twenty-nine-year-old Afghan national who shot the soldiers.
His photograph was shown at a press conference, where FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau is treating the shooting as a terrorist incident and is conducting “a coast-to-coast investigation.” Lakanwal was wounded during the exchange of fire with the soldiers and was later arrested.
At the press conference, Patel said that the FBI conducted searches in several homes in the state of Washington, where Lakanwal lived, as well as in San Diego, California.
Investigators seized electronic devices from the suspect’s home, including phones and laptops, and questioned his relatives.
Jeanine Pirro, the prosecutor for the District of Columbia, where Washington, D.C., is located, said Lakanwal ambushed the soldiers in the afternoon hours as they were patrolling near the White House.
He was armed with a three-fifty-seven Magnum handgun, shot one of them, and then engaged in a firefight with the second.
He had driven from his home in Washington State in the western United States, traveling thousands of kilometers to the capital.
The U.S. Attorney General, Pam Bondi, said the administration intends to charge the shooter with terrorism offenses and seeks to impose a life sentence, “at the very least.” FBI Director Patel described the shooting as a “vile act of terror.”
A relative of Lakanwal said he served for ten years in the Afghan military and spent part of that time stationed at a base in Kandahar, an area considered a Taliban stronghold.
A CIA spokesperson said that during his service in the Afghan army, Lakanwal “worked with the American government, including with the CIA.”