Gunman Who Shot Guardsmen — Killing One — Arrived Under Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome, Officials Say

The gunman who killed a National Guard member and critically wounded another in a brazen daylight shooting near the White House on Wednesday will face multiple charges after officials called the attack an act of terrorism.“This was not just an attack, it was a direct challenge to law and order in our nation’s capital,” the United States attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, said at a Thanksgiving morning press conference with the FBI Director Kash Patel.“My message to the individual who committed these acts is, you picked the wrong target, the wrong city, and the wrong country,” she said. “You’ll be sorry for the violence and the evil that you perpetrated in our nation’s capital.”The alleged shooter has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national who once fought alongside American forces. He was just blocks from the White House on Wednesday afternoon when he unleashed a hail of gunfire on service members from the West Virginia National Guard, striking Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolf and leaving them clinging to life. Ms. Beckstrom died Thursday, President Trump announced on Thanksgiving afternoon.“A lone gunman opened fire without provocation, ambush-style, armed with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver,” Ms. Pirro said. “One guardsman is struck, goes down, and then the shooter leans over and strikes the guardsman again.”The shooter has been charged with three counts of assault, but the charges will be upgraded to murder now that one of the victims succumbed to her injuries.“Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom of the National Guard — a hero who volunteered to serve DC on Thanksgiving for people she never met and gave the ultimate sacrifice. May she rest in peace. It is now time to avenge her death and secure justice,” Ms. Pirro wrote in a Thursday evening X post. In her morning remarks, Ms. Pirro confirmed reports that identified the shooter as Mr. Lakanwal and said he arrived in the United States in September 2021 after a decade serving in a special CIA-backed Afghan army before emigrating. She also said that he resides at Bellingham, Washington, with his wife and five children and had driven cross country specifically to carry out his violent attack.He was admitted under the previous administration’s “Operation Allies Welcome” program, in which Afghan nationals who had worked alongside the U.S. military and its diplomats were allowed to resettle in America.“This is what happens in this country when people are allowed in who are not properly vetted,” Ms. Pirro said.Despite the finger-pointing at the Biden administration, CBS and CNN, among other outlets, quote unnamed officials saying Mr. Lakanwal applied for asylum in America at the end of 2024 and had his application approved by the Trump administration this year. CNN attributed the information to “multiple law enforcement officials” who spoke to the network.Officials with the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan condemned the attack and claimed that Mr. Lakanwal was “directly connected” to the Taliban and was part its terrorist cells in America.“Since 2021, we have consistently warned that the Taliban have been sending individuals affiliated with their network and other terrorist groups to Western countries with the intent to conduct such attacks. They have even distributed Afghanistan’s passports to thousands of foreign terrorist fighters,” the NRF’s head of foreign relations, Ali Maisam Nazary said in a X post on Wednesday. “Today’s tragedy is only the tip of the iceberg.”Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem declared on X that the suspect was “one of the many unvetted, mass paroled into the United States under Operation Allies Welcome on September 8, 2021, under the Biden Administration.” The program was designed to resettle “vulnerable Afghans” and those who had worked alongside U.S. forces.This program relocated approximately 76,000 individuals to the United States, including many who had supported American military personnel and diplomatic staff as language specialists. The initiative has subsequently drawn sharp criticism from Trump, his supporters, Republican lawmakers, and certain oversight bodies, who have raised concerns about security screening procedures and the rapid pace of admissions. Meanwhile, program supporters maintain that thorough vetting occurred and that the initiative provided crucial protection for those facing potential Taliban retaliation.An unidentified individual from the Khost province in eastern Afghanistan told The Associated Press that he was Mr. Lakanwal’s cousin. The relative told the news agency that both Mr. Lakanwal and his brother served with a specialized Afghan Army group called the Zero Units, operating in Kandahar province. A former member of this unit, speaking anonymously due to the delicate nature of the matter, confirmed that Mr. Lakanwal led a team while his brother commanded a platoon.These Zero Units were paramilitary forces composed of Afghan personnel but supported by the CIA, and they engaged in frontline combat operations alongside CIA paramilitary personnel. Human rights activists had linked these units to alleged misconduct. During the disorderly American exit from Afghanistan, these units performed an important function by securing the area around Kabul International Airport while U.S. forces and others retreated amid the Taliban’s takeover of the nation.President Trump vowed Wednesday that the shooter will “pay the steepest possible price,” saying he is “determined” to see justice delivered.Mr. Trump said the Biden administration flew the suspect into the country in September 2021 and extended his status under Biden-era legislation. He then called for a sweeping review of all Afghans admitted to the United States during the previous administration.“We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden, and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country,” he said in an address to the nation. “If they can’t love our country, we don’t want ’em.”The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service announced after Mr. Trump’s comments that they would “indefinitely” halt all immigration requests from Afghanistan.“Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols,” read a statement posted to X. “The protection and safety of our homeland and of the American people remains our singular focus and mission.”

Gunman Who Shot Guardsmen — Killing One — Arrived Under Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome, Officials Say

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