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\n Two West Virginia National Guard members are in critical condition after a gunman opened fire near the White House<\/a> the day before Thanksgiving, in an attack that has added fuel to President Donald Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown.\n <\/p>\n \n The suspect in the shooting has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national who officials say came to the US in 2021 under a program implemented by the Biden administration following the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan. The suspect was also wounded and taken to the hospital, authorities said.\n <\/p>\n \n Lakanwal had previously worked in Afghanistan<\/a> with the CIA, according to the agency\u2019s director, John Ratcliffe. He was granted asylum in April by the Trump administration, multiple law enforcement officials told CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump called the shooting an \u201cact of terror\u201d in remarks from his club in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n \n The president called for a reexamination of every person from Afghanistan who came to the US under President Joe Biden, and criticized what he claimed were millions of \u201cunknown and unvetted foreigners\u201d admitted to the country under his predecessor.\n <\/p>\n \n Here\u2019s what we know about the shooting, the suspect and the response:\n <\/p>\n \n Lakanwal arrived in the US on September 8, 2021, as part of a program called Operation Allies Welcome<\/a>, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday night.\n <\/p>\n \n Biden launched the program in August 2021 to protect vulnerable Afghans following the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban\u2019s return to power.\n <\/p>\n \n More than 190,000 Afghans have been resettled in the US under both Operation Allies Welcome and the program that replaced it<\/a>, known as Enduring Welcome, according to the State Department.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n Most Afghans who arrived under Operation Allies Welcome were allowed to enter and remain in the US for two years without permanent immigration status. More than 40% of those admitted to the program were eligible for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) because they took great risks to help the US, or were related to someone who did, according to the Department of Homeland Security.\n <\/p>\n \n In a statement to Fox News Wednesday, Ratcliffe said, \u201cThe Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the US government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Afghans admitted to the US under Operation Allies Welcome underwent extensive vetting<\/a>, despite claims to the contrary by Trump and his allies at the time.\n <\/p>\n \n Lakanwal was granted asylum earlier this year under the Trump administration after applying in 2024, multiple law enforcement officials told CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n Both West Virginia National Guard members injured in the attack Wednesday remain in critical condition, US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said at a news conference Thursday.\n <\/p>\n \n Pirro identified the injured Guard members as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24.\n <\/p>\n \n Beckstrom and Wolfe have been deployed to the district under the DC Safe and Beautiful Mission \u201csince the beginning of the mission in August of this year,\u201d according to a statement<\/a> from the West Virginia National Guard.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cUnfortunately, today, as most families join together to give thanks for the blessings that have been bestowed upon them, two families have been shattered and destroyed and have been torn apart as a result of the actions of one man,\u201d Pirro said.\n <\/p>\n \n The Guard members \u201canswered the call, they took the charge, they volunteered, they put their lives on the line for people they don\u2019t even know,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n \n Pirro said, as it stands, Lakanwal will be charged with assault with intent to kill and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. He faces 15 years in prison under the assault with the intent to kill charge, she said.\n <\/p>\n \n However, she added, those charges could change depending on the well-being and recovery of the injured Guard members.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n \n At a separate news conference Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the administration will do \u201ceverything in our power\u201d to seek the death penalty following the shooting.\n <\/p>\n \n She added at a minimum, the alleged suspect could face \u201clife in prison with terrorism charges.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Since the shooting, Pirro said, investigators across multiple agencies have worked around the clock to learn more about the alleged gunman.\n <\/p>\n \n She said Lakanwal resided in Bellingham, Washington, with his wife and children.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhat we know about him is that he drove his vehicle across country from the state of Washington with the intended target of coming to our nation\u2019s capital,\u201d Pirro said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cA lone gunman opened fire without provocation, ambush-style, armed with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n FBI Director Kash Patel said the motive for the attack remains under investigation, but the shooting is being treated as an act of terrorism.\n <\/p>\n \n Wednesday\u2019s attack took place around 2:15 p.m. in Farragut Square, a tourist-heavy area near a busy transit center and the White House.\n <\/p>\n \n The two National Guard members were performing \u201chigh visibility patrols\u201d when the suspect approached, raised a gun and started shooting at them, Executive Assistant Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department Jeffery Carroll said at a news conference following the attack.\n <\/p>\n \n Carroll said after \u201csome back and forth,\u201d fellow Guard members were \u201cable to subdue\u201d the suspect and take him into custody.\n <\/p>\n \n DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services responded to provide first aid, Carroll said. The suspect and the wounded National Guard members were transported to area hospitals, he added.\n <\/p>\n \n On Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News that Beckstrom had volunteered to work over the Thanksgiving holiday.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cShe volunteered, as did many of those guardsmen and women, so other people could be home with their families, yet now their families are in hospital rooms with them while they are fighting for their lives,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n \n An eyewitness named Patrick told CNN he was about to enter a nearby bar around 2:10 p.m. when he heard loud bangs and saw people running.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThey were thick gunshots. I mean, I couldn\u2019t really tell if it was a rifle or a pistol, but some type of big caliber,\u201d said Patrick, who declined to give his last name.\n <\/p>\n \n Once he stopped hearing gunshots, he walked to the intersection and saw two National Guard members and a third person on the ground. Shattered glass from the bus stop covered the area. He said people were performing CPR on one of the Guard members, while the other had blood near their head.\n <\/p>\n \n Following the shooting, Trump asked for 500 more National Guard troops to be deployed to the nation\u2019s capital, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n \n That request came despite an ongoing legal battle over whether the original National Guard deployment was legal. On Wednesday, the Trump administration also asked a federal appeals court for an emergency stay of last week\u2019s order from a federal judge to remove the National Guard from Washington, DC.\n <\/p>\n \n As a multi-agency investigation into the shooting begins, President Trump and his administration have begun ramping up the anti-immigration rhetoric.\n <\/p>\n \n In a video address from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trump blamed the Biden administration for bringing the alleged shooter to the US and argued the attack \u201cunderscores the single greatest national security threat facing our nation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Trump lamented what he described as \u201c20 million unknown and unvetted foreigners\u201d who entered the US during his predecessor\u2019s administration, casting it \u201ca risk to our very survival.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The president described the suspect as a \u201cforeigner who entered our country from Afghanistan, a hell hole on earth.\u201d In the same remarks, he also took aim at Somali immigrants living in Minnesota, claiming they are \u201cripping off our country and ripping apart that once-great state,\u201d casting Somalia as a country that has \u201cno laws, no water, no military, no nothing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Trump vowed to \u201cre-examine every single alien who has entered our country under Biden,\u201d a process that has already begun, as CNN reported earlier this week.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n Shortly after Trump\u2019s address, US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it had stopped processing immigration cases related to Afghan immigrants \u201cpending further review of security and vetting protocols.\u201d\n <\/p>\n![\"Rahmanullah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2025-11-27t144815z-1580260796-rc225iat1ji2-rtrmadp-3-usa-shooting.jpg\")
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