Donald Trump ripped into the suspect who shot two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., in what the president described as a “monstrous ambush-style attack.”
Trump, who has been in Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday, said in an address on Wednesday night, “I am determined to ensure that the animal who perpetrated this atrocity pays the steepest possible price.”
The guardsmen from West Virginia were shot just north of the White House shortly after 2 p.m. on Wednesday. The motive of the shooter, who has been identified in reports as an Afghan national named Rahmanullah Lakanwal, remains unclear. More than 2,000 National Guard troops have been deployed to D.C. in Trump’s crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital. The move was controversial and angered some residents.
Here is everything we know about the shooting so far:
What happened?
Shots were fired just north of the White House and near the Farragut West Metro Station.
Jeffery Carroll, executive assistant chief at the Metropolitan Police Department, told reporters late Wednesday afternoon that the guardsmen had been patrolling the area when the suspected shooter came around the corner, raised his arm with a gun and fired at the soldiers.
Other troops and law enforcement in the area were able to bring the suspect into custody.
The other guardsmen had “heard the gunfire. They actually were able to intervene and to kind of hold down the suspect after he had been shot on the ground.”
Carroll said the suspect was shot during the incident and that both the guardsmen and the suspect were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Who is the shooter?
Police believe there was only one suspect involved in the shooting.
“We have reviewed video from the area. It appears like I said, to be a lone gunman that raised the firearm and ambushed these members of the National Guard,” Carroll said.
The Associated Press, along with other outlets, has identified the suspect as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem identified the suspect as an Afghan national who came to the U.S. in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome.
Lakanwal has been living in Washington state, more than 2,600 miles from D.C., according to the AP.
The suspect’s injuries are believed to be non-life-threatening, an unnamed law enforcement official told the AP.
A close relative said Lakanwal served in the Afghan Army for 10 years alongside U.S. Special Forces, NBC News reported.
It’s unclear what type of weapon the suspect used in the shooting.
Details about the suspect are still unknown as “he’s still in the hospital receiving treatment,” Carroll said.
Trump said Wednesday night that the Homeland Security Department is “confident” that the suspect was from Afghanistan, which the president described as “a hellhole on Earth.”
“He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021 for those infamous flights that everybody was talking about. Nobody knew who was coming in,” Trump said.
The president was seemingly referring to Operation Allies Welcome. In August 2021, then-President Joe Biden directed the Homeland Security Department to lead efforts in support of the operation, which worked to help resettle vulnerable Afghans in the U.S. on two-year grants of parole.
What condition are the guardsmen in?
The guardsmen are in critical condition, officials said late Wednesday afternoon, clearing up some earlier confusion.
Earlier Wednesday, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey announced that the soldiers had died.
“It is with great sorrow that we can confirm both members of the West Virginia National Guard who were shot earlier today in Washington, DC have passed away from their injuries,” Morrisey wrote on X.
In a follow-up post, the governor said, “We are now receiving conflicting reports about the condition of our two Guard members and will provide additional updates once we receive more complete information.”
What have officials said about the shooting?
Trump told Americans in an impromptu address, “Earlier today on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday, two members of the National Guard serving in Washington DC were shot at point-blank range in a monstrous ambush-style attack just steps away from the White House.”
“This heinous assault was an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror. It was a crime against our entire nation. It was a crime against humanity,” the president said.
During his address, Trump called for a reinvestigation into all Afghan refugees who had entered the U.S. under the Biden administration. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services separately said on X that the processing of all immigration requests of Afghan nationals has been “stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols.”
Shawn VanDiver, president of Afghan advocacy group, AfghanEvac, said in a statement: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic attack in Washington, DC,” and urged people, including elected officials, “not to demonize the Afghan community for the deranged choice” the suspect made.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters following the shooting that Trump has asked him to add 500 more troops to the nation’s capital.
“This will only stiffen our resolve to ensure that we make Washington, D.C., safe and beautiful,” Hegseth said.
FBI Director Kash Patel said in an X post that the agency is “engaged and assisting” in the investigation into the shooting.
Alex Woodward contributed to this reporting.
