One of 2 National Guard members shot in D.C. dies, second remains in critical condition, officials say

In a statement confirming her death Thursday night, the commander of Joint Task Force District of Columbia hailed Army National Guard Spc. Sarah Beckstrom as “a hero.”

“This is a devastating loss to our National Guard family,” Col. Larry Doane said in a statement. “Spc. Sarah Beckstrom came to the District from West Virginia to make our nation’s capital safe and beautiful. She is a hero and we mourn her passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with her loved ones and with the West Virginia National Guard.”

Beckstrom enlisted in the West Virginia National Guard in June 2023. She served as a military police soldier with the 863rd Military Police Company.

One of two National Guard members who were shot in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday is “fighting for his life,” President Trump told reporters Thursday.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, is “in very bad shape,” Mr. Trump said. “Hopefully, we’ll get better news in respect to him.”

Earlier Thursday, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said Wolfe was in critical condition after undergoing surgery.

The second victim, 20-year-old Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, died from her injuries, Mr. Trump said. 

Law enforcement sources told CBS News the two were on patrol outside a downtown D.C. metro station when a gunman opened fire in what the sources described as a “clear ambush” and “calculated attack.”

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia called the shooting death of 20-year-old Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom “a devastating loss for her family, her fellow Guardsmen, and for our entire state.”

President Trump confirmed earlier Thursday evening that Beckstrom had died from her injuries in Wednesday’s shooting in Washington, D.C.

“West Virginia will never forget Sarah’s service, her sacrifice, and the dedication she showed to her state and her country,” Capito said in a statement. “We will continue to stand firmly with her family and with the West Virginia National Guard community during this incredibly painful time.”

The second Guard member wounded in the attack, 20-year-old Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, remains in critical condition, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said earlier Thursday.

“I am continuing to stay in close contact with the West Virginia National Guard and law enforcement as they work to support the second Guardsman, Andrew Wolfe, who remains under medical care,” Capito said. 

Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia said he was “absolutely devastated” to learn of the passing of a member of his state’s National Guard, 20-year-old Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, who was shot in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

“Cathy and I are heartbroken beyond words. Our prayers are with her family, friends, and fellow guardsmen during an incredibly difficult Thanksgiving Day,” he said in a statement. “We are also lifting up Andrew Wolfe in prayer as he continues his journey to recovery. West Virginians always show up for one another, and today it’s our turn to show up for our service members as they mourn this terrible loss.”

Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was in critical condition after undergoing surgery, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said earlier Thursday.

One of the National Guard members who was shot, 20-year-old Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, has died, President Trump said Thursday.

“Right now I heard that Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia, one of the guardsmen that we’re talking about, highly respected, young, magnificent person, started service in June of 2023, outstanding in every way, she has just passed away,” Mr. Trump told reporters Thursday evening.

A White House official later said the president spoke with Beckstrom’s parents Thursday evening.

A running theory of investigators is that the suspect in the shooting of the two National Guard members suffered from paranoia and other mental health challenges that indicated he believed authorities sought to deport him from the U.S., multiple law enforcement sources told CBS News on Thursday.

By Nicole Sganga and Pat Milton

Multiple family members of the suspect in Washington state have been interviewed by investigators following a search of the suspect’s Bellingham home, multiple law enforcement sources told CBS News.

Federal law enforcement, led by the FBI, are scrutinizing and analyzing the suspect’s digital footprint, the sources said. No other suspects have been identified in connection with the shooting.

By Nicole Sganga and Pat Milton

The Trump administration said Thursday it will be conducting a “full-scale, rigorous reexamination” of all green cards for every immigrant from “a country of concern” in the wake of the shooting.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow said Thursday that the order had come at the request of President Trump. Two Homeland Security officials told CBS News there are 19 countries on that list, including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Somalia, Libya, Sudan, Yemen and Venezuela.

Read more here.

The Trump administration is now reviewing all asylum cases approved under the Biden administration, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to CBS News on Thursday.

It’s unclear how wide-ranging the review will be. The Trump administration had ordered an unprecedented review and rescreening of all refugees admitted to the U.S. under the Biden administration earlier this month. Refugees and asylum-seekers have to meet the same legal definition, but arrive in the U.S. under different circumstances.

The suspect entered the U.S. in 2021, and his asylum case was granted earlier this year, while President Trump was in office, a Homeland Security official told CBS News. In her statement, McLaughlin appeared to blame the suspect’s approval on a Biden-era court settlement that requires the federal government to expedite the processing of Afghan asylum cases.

An image of an ID badge circulating widely online Thursday that purportedly shows the suspect says he was assigned to the “Kandahar Strike Force” or “03” unit, one of a number of so-called “Zero Units” that worked closely with U.S. and other foreign forces during the war in Afghanistan.

The badge also carries the words “Firebase Gecko,” which was the name of a base used by the CIA and special forces in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, inside what was previously the compound of the Taliban’s founding leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.

CBS News has not independently verified the authenticity of the ID badge shown in the photos, but CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the suspect had previously worked “with the U.S. Government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar.”

Read more here.

FBI Director Kash Patel said a search warrant had been executed at the suspect’s last known address in Washington state. Based on what was found at the address, law enforcement was able to find people associated with him in San Diego. 

“During that process, we seized numerous electronic devices to include cellphones, laptops, iPads and other material that is being analyzed as we speak,” Patel said. “… Interviews were conducted and are going to be continue to be conducted, and we will go anywhere in the country or the world where the evidence leads us.”

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said the victims — Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24 — both remain in critical condition after undergoing surgery.

“They are receiving the finest medical care. Their families are with them now,” Pirro said, adding, “It’s not clear how it’s going to end up.”

Pirro said both had been sworn into National Guard duty less than 24 hours before the attack. The National Guard’s joint task force for the district later clarified that the two guard members have been serving in the district since August and were deputized before the attack to maintain their status to conduct patrols.

“We are praying on a day like today, when families come together in America and they hold hands around the Thanksgiving table, I beg you, I beseech you, to pray for these two young people,” Pirro said.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Thursday that the suspect will be charged with three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, and he will also be charged with possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. The charges could still change depending on the condition of the wounded guard members.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said it was too soon to say what the possible motive was for the shooting.

“It’s too soon to say what the motive is, but there are definitely areas that we’re looking into, but not ready to say,” Pirro said.

The suspect had been living in Bellingham, Washington, with his wife and children, and he drove across the country to Washington, D.C., before the attack, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said during a news conference Thursday.

The two National Guard members who were wounded were posted outside a metro station when the gunman opened fire without warning in what law enforcement sources described as a “clear ambush” and “calculated attack.”

The first victim — a female Guard member — was struck immediately and collapsed where she stood, the sources said. She sustained at least two gunshot wounds during the ambush. 

The suspect, who was wielding a handgun, had four rounds in his firearm initially, sources said. After he fired them, he then took the fallen Guardswoman’s weapon and used it to continue shooting, striking the second Guard member, the sources said. 

A third Guardsman stabbed the suspect with a pocketknife, while a fourth returned fire and shot the suspect multiple times, ending the attack.

The wounded Guard members were deputized for the deployment but were not operating as law enforcement and did not have arrest powers, the sources said. They were stationed outside the metro stop as part of a high-visibility foot patrol that consisted of presence-based security, not active policing, the sources explained.

By Nicole Sganga and Jennifer Jacobs

The suspect detained in the shooting of two National Guard members is not cooperating with authorities at this time, law enforcement sources told CBS News Wednesday night.

Multiple law enforcement officials previously identified him as 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who entered the U.S. in 2021. (The Department of Homeland Security had earlier spelled his last name as Lakamal.)

A CIA spokesperson told CBS News on Thursday that the Afghan suspect in the shooting “previously worked with the U.S. government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar that ended in 2021” following the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In a separate statement, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said “the Biden Administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. Government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation. This individual — and so many others — should have never been allowed to come here. Our citizens and servicemembers deserve far better than to endure the ongoing fallout from the Biden Administration’s catastrophic failures. God Bless our brave troops.”

CBS News has learned that the Afghan suspect in the shooting led a team in the former Afghan national armed forces that worked directly with U.S. and British forces during the two-decade war in the country.

According to a former Afghan commando who spoke with CBS News on Thursday, Rahmanullah Lakanwal led a unit of Afghan special forces in the south of the country and worked closely with the international troops.

The former commando told CBS News that Lakanawal was left deeply troubled by the death of a close friend and fellow Afghan commander in 2024, whom he said had unsuccessfully sought asylum in the U.S.

A Department of Homeland Security official told CBS News the suspect detained in the D.C. shooting of two National Guard members was paroled into the U.S. on humanitarian grounds in 2021. Federal authorities have identified him as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national.

That was the main legal mechanism the Biden administration used to welcome tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees after the Taliban takeover in August 2021. Lakanwal was admitted to the U.S. in September of that year.

Lakanwal later applied for asylum with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in 2024 and his application was granted in 2025, the official said. But his request for a green card, which is tied to the asylum grant, is pending.

As such, he is technically an asylee as of now and is not in the U.S. illegally.

The Trump administration has paused the processing of all immigration applications for Afghan nationals following Wednesday’s shooting of two National Guard members, officials said, after the suspect detained in the shooting was identified as an Afghan national.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Wednesday night that it’s enacting an indefinite pause on the processing of all immigration applications filed by 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 USCIS statement obtained by CBS News reads. “The protections and safety of our homeland and of the American people remains our singular focus and mission.”

The Department of Homeland Security has identified the shooting suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who DHS says was admitted to the United States in September 2021, a month after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden,” President Trump said in an address Wednesday night.

Read more here.