The suspect in custody for the “targeted” shooting of two members of the West Virginia National Guard in Washington, D.C., near the White House, has been identified as an Afghan refugee.
The brutal attack was carried out on Wednesday afternoon by 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, according to the Associated Press and other outlets.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also 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.
President Donald Trump, who is currently in Florida, called the shooting a “crime against humanity.”
“The hearts of all Americans tonight are with those two members of the West Virginia National Guard and their families. The love of our entire country is pouring out for them, and we are lifting them up in our prayers,” Trump said in an address from Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday night. “As we are filled with anguish and grief for those who were shot, we’re also filled with righteous anger and ferocious resolve.”
There were initially reports that the two guardsmen had died, though it was later confirmed that they were critically wounded and are being treated in local hospitals.
The shooting occurred near 17th and I Street Northwest on Wednesday afternoon. Police described the suspect as a “lone gunman” who rounded a corner and opened fire on the guardsmen.
Nearby members of the Guard heard gunshots and were able to “subdue the individual” after a “back and forth” in which the suspect was also shot, Executive Assistant Chief Jeff Carroll of the D.C. police department said during a press conference on Wednesday.
The suspect’s injuries are believed to be non-life-threatening, an unnamed law enforcement official told the AP.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser described the attack as a “targeted shooting.”
Trump said in his Wednesday night address 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.
In August 2021, then-President Joe Biden directed the Homeland Security Department to lead efforts in support of Operation Allies Welcome, which worked to help resettle vulnerable Afghans in the U.S.
Trump called for a reinvestigation into all Afghan refugees who had entered the U.S. under the Biden administration. Following his address, USCIS announced it would immediately stop processing Afghan immigration applications.
The suspected shooter will be charged with assault on a federal officer, according to FBI Director Kash Patel.
The FBI will reportedly investigate the incident as a potential act of terrorism, a law enforcement source told NBC News, adding that the suspect is thought to have wielded a handgun.
Even though Trump was in Florida and Vice President Vance was in Kentucky, the White House was nonetheless temporarily in a state of lockdown after the shooting.
After the attack, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said an additional 500 Guard troops would be ordered to Washington.
“We will never back down,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “We will secure our capital. We will secure our cities.”
The Independent has contacted the National Guard, Secret Service, and Washington police for comment.
Witness Michael Ryan was across the street when he heard the first round of gunshots and was in “disbelief,” he told reporters.
“People started running,” he said. “Cars started speeding off as well.”
After Ryan ran about half a block, a second round of shots began.
The shooting had “no known direction of interest towards the White House other than the location at this time,” and no Secret Service members at the scene fired any shots, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told The Washington Post.
The scene of the shooting, which took place near the Farragut West metro stop, was cordoned off with police tape and surrounded by personnel from multiple law enforcement agencies. Guard troops have been a regular presence there and at other transit hubs for months since the Trump administration ordered the military into the capital.
The FBI is assisting with the investigation into the shooting.
An expanded contingent of National Guard troops has been active in the capital since August, when President Trump issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in Washington.
The operation currently includes about 2,100 troops.
Last week, a federal judge ordered the administration to end the deployment, finding that the White House illegally overstepped local powers to direct law enforcement in Washington, though the ruling is on hold for three weeks to allow time for appeals. The Trump administration appealed the ruling on Tuesday.
The Trump administration has deployed the National Guard to at least nine, mostly Democrat-led cities, this year. The missions have frequently been met with protests and local officials have sued to block the operations.
Eric Garcia and Rachel Dobkin contributed reporting to this story.
