{"id":326618,"date":"2025-12-02T19:56:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T19:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/326618\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T19:56:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T19:56:10","slug":"accused-national-guard-shooter-pleads-not-guilty-to-murder-and-assault-charges-at-first-court-appearance-from-the-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/326618\/","title":{"rendered":"Accused National Guard shooter pleads not guilty to murder and assault charges at first court appearance from the hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n An Afghan man appeared in court virtually from his hospital bed on Tuesday to plead not guilty to charges related to the shooting of two National Guardsmen<\/a> in Washington, DC.\n <\/p>\n

\n Rahmanullah Lakanwal<\/a> is accused of shooting two National Guard members near the White House last week. One of them, Sarah Beckstrom<\/a>, died from her injuries a day later. The other victim, Andrew Wolfe, remains in critical condition.\n <\/p>\n

\n DC Superior Court Magistrate Judge Renee Raymond ordered Lakanwal held without bond before trial.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cNo condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the safety of the community,\u201d the judge said, in deciding to keep the defendant detained.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt is fairly clear that he came across the country, 3,000 miles, armed, with a specific purpose in mind,\u201d the judge added.\n <\/p>\n

\n Lakanwal was hospitalized after being shot Wednesday. He appeared virtually from a hospital bed on Tuesday in Washington, DC, superior court. As the judge began, the man could be seen wiggling and moving in his bed, all but his head covered by a blanket.\n <\/p>\n

\n The man mumbled his name when asked through squinted eyes. He said, through a translator, he cannot open his eyes.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI have pain,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Lakanwal was charged with several crimes including premeditated murder and assault with intent to kill. He pleaded not guilty to all counts, a lawyer appointed to the case told DC Superior Court Magistrate Judge Renee Raymond.\n <\/p>\n

\n An interpreter accompanied Lakanwal in the virtual hearing translating between Pashto and English.\n <\/p>\n

\n One of Lakanwal\u2019s attorneys, Terrence Austin, argued that his client should be released. He said the Justice Department took too long to charge Lakanwal and said he had no prior criminal record.\n <\/p>\n

\n A prosecutor argued that the seriousness of the charges \u2014 including first degree murder while armed \u2014 call for him to be detained pretrial. The prosecutor also argued the man has no ties to the city, and no conditions could ensure the safety of the community.\n <\/p>\n

\n Lankanwal spent the last few years living in Washington state with his family. He came to the US in 2021 after working with US forces in Afghanistan before the US military withdrew from the country.\n <\/p>\n

\n DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro was sitting in the front row of the courtroom throughout the hearing, with a US marshal seated next to her.\n <\/p>\n

\n Austin said during the hearing Tuesday that the jury pool was being tainted by public press conferences regarding the case.\n <\/p>\n

\n After the hearing, Pirro exited through the back of the courtroom and held a press conference outside the courthouse.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe have no idea who he is, he has no connections to the community,\u201d Pirro said.\n <\/p>\n

\n When asked about the death penalty, she added, \u201cThat is a very weighty decision, That is a decision that comes later in time. That is one that ultimately one that the attorney general will make.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Lankanwal is scheduled to appear in court next on January 14.\n <\/p>\n

\n In a charging document <\/a>released Tuesday, prosecutors say Lakanwal screamed \u201cAllahu Akbar\u201d while he opened fire in Northwest downtown Washington, DC.\n <\/p>\n

\n In an eight-page court filing, law enforcement described in detail the scene of the shooting, with soldiers Beckstrom and Wolfe talking and on patrol just after 2pm ET on November 26 when gunfire erupted.\n <\/p>\n

\n The two victims fell to the ground and saw the defendant, the affidavit said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Investigators say they were able to track Lakanwal\u2019s movements before the shooting through a surveillance video from near the Farragut West metro station in DC. The man was standing on the sidewalk near the station for about a minute then ran toward the intersection, and around the corner.\n <\/p>\n

\n The surveillance camera captured the moment the two soldiers collapsed to the ground. It also captured Lakanwal apparently \u201cchasing and shooting at\u201d another witness and bending down near the two victims he had shot, investigators wrote.\n <\/p>\n

\n This story is developing and will be updated.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Afghan man appeared in court virtually from his hospital bed on Tuesday to plead not guilty to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-326618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}