Topline<\/p>\n
The suspect in Wednesday\u2019s shooting in Washington, D.C\u2014which critically wounded two National Guard members\u2014was identified as an Afghan man who worked with the U.S. during the war in Afghanistan before he came to the U.S. under a Biden-era resettlement program in 2021 and was granted asylum this year, according to multiple<\/a> outlets<\/a>.<\/p>\n National Guard patrol on the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol, Wednesday.<\/p>\n Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.Key Facts<\/p>\n The suspected shooter has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national who lives in Bellingham, Washington.<\/p>\n According to The New York Times<\/a> and ABC News<\/a>, Lakanwal was granted asylum in April 2025 under President Donald Trump, who has blamed former President Joe Biden for Lakanwal\u2019s entrance into the U.S. in 2021.<\/p>\n CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Thursday that Lakanwal worked with CIA-backed military units in Afghanistan, multiple outlets<\/a> reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n While addressing<\/a> the attacks on Wednesday night, President Donald Trump said the Department of Homeland Security is \u201cconfident that the suspect in custody is a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan, a hellhole on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump claimed he was flown into the U.S. \u201cby the Biden administration in September 2021,\u201d and his \u201cstatus was extended under legislation signed by President Biden\u201d\u2014likely referring to the \u201cOperation Allies Welcome,\u201d which allowed certain Afghan asylum seekers to remain in the U.S. for two years.<\/p>\n Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reiterated this in an X post<\/a>, saying the Lakanwal is an \u201cAfghan national who was one of the many unvetted, mass paroled into the United States under Operation Allies Welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n What Do We Know About Rahmanullah Lakanwal?<\/p>\n The NBC report<\/a> added that Lakanwal served in the Afghan army for 10 years alongside U.S. Special Forces soldiers. The 29-year-old reportedly grew up in the Khost province, which borders Pakistan. Lakanwal had been stationed at a base in Kandahar, Afghanistan\u2019s second-largest city, while serving in the country\u2019s army, the report added, citing Lakanwal\u2019s relative. The relative expressed disbelief that Lakanwal would carry out such an attack, and added, \u201cWe were the ones that were targeted by the Taliban in Afghanistan.\u201d Lakanwal was part of a paramilitary force that worked with the CIA known as a \u201cZero Unit,\u201d according to The New York Times<\/a>, which noted the units built a reputation for their brutality and were considered \u201cdeath squads\u201d by human rights groups. The Times, citing a childhood friend of Lakanwal\u2019s, said Lakanwal \u201csuffered from mental health issues and was disturbed by the casualties his unit had caused.\u201d He had been living with his wife and five children in Bellingham, Washington, since moving to the U.S.<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline The suspect in Wednesday\u2019s shooting in Washington, D.C\u2014which critically wounded two National Guard members\u2014was identified as an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[94560,94561,94559,42,94562,43,94558,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-156384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-afghan-national","9":"tag-cia-afghanistan","10":"tag-d-c-shooter","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-national-guard-shooting","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-rahmanullah-lakanwal","15":"tag-top-news","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-topnews","18":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}