The dramatic moment National Guard members traded fire with a gunman in Washington, D.C., on Thanksgiving Eve has been caught on video.
Two West Virginia National Guard members were shot, just blocks from the White House, Wednesday afternoon. U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries, while U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition, President Donald Trump said Thursday.
Photos and video, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, shows National Guard members reacting to the attack and running down the street. The footage appears to have been taken by a witness who was inside a car driving past the street corner.
The shooter can be seen looking around the corner, holding a revolver in his right hand, while a National Guard member runs down the street.
Seconds later, the National Guard member can be seen firing shots back at the attacker. The video also shows fallen National Guard members lying on the street, the WSJ reports.
The suspected gunman “came around the corner, raised his arm with a firearm and discharged at the National Guard members,” according to Jeffery Carroll, the executive assistant chief of the Metropolitan Police Department. The video of the incident corresponds with Carroll’s account, the WSJ reports.
Investigators have identified the suspected shooter as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the U.S. in 2021 and was living in Bellingham, Washington. Lakanwal was taken to a local hospital in the aftermath of the shooting, and is now in custody.
The incident was described as a “brazen, targeted attack,” by D.C. Attorney General Jeanine Pirro, who announced Friday that Lakanwal will face a first-degree murder charge.
He was previously charged with three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.
Trump announced Thursday that Beckstrom died from her injuries, calling her a “highly respected, young, magnificent person” and “outstanding in every way.”
“She’s just passed away,” the president said. “She’s no longer with us. She’s looking down at us right now. She was savagely attacked, she’s dead now.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News that the 20-year-old had volunteered to work in D.C. during the Thanksgiving holiday week. Beckstrom was “caring and tenderhearted,” her former boyfriend, Adam Carr, told The New York Times. The 20-year-old enjoyed nature and road trips, and dreamed of having a career in the FBI, according to Carr.
Meanwhile, Wolfe is still “fighting for his life” and in “very bad shape,” Trump added. He joined the National Guard in February 2019 and serves as a U.S. Air Force staff sergeant assigned to the Force Support Squadron, 167th Airlift Wing.
“Andy is easily one of the strongest, determined and God-fearing men I know. I have no doubt he has the willpower in him to come out on top of this,” his friend, Brooke Davison, told The New York Times.
Law enforcement officials have described the attack as an “ambush,” and are investigating it as an act of terrorism.
Lakanwal is believed to have arrived in the U.S. four years ago under former President Joe Biden’s administration, following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Lakanwal had worked with the U.S. government, including the CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, Afghanistan, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said.
Lakanwal applied for asylum in 2024, and was granted it earlier this year under the Trump administration.
Following the attack, Trump said his administration will “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.”
