National Guard soldiers gather near a crime scene after a shooting in downtown Washington, DC. Photo: AFP
WASHINGTON:
An Afghan national named Rahmanullah Lakanwal has been identified as the suspected shooter in the ‘targeted’ attack that critically injured two National Guard soldiers near the White House on Wednesday, the US Department of Homeland Security said.
The suspect was shot by another Guard member and taken into custody, according to media reports, quoting officials. He is currently hospitalized.
Lakanwal, 29, entered the United States in 2021, multiple law enforcement said.
“This heinous assault was an act of evil and act of hatred and an act of terror. It was a crime against our entire nation. It was a crime against humanity,” President Donald Trump said in a video message from the state of Florida, where he is spending his Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said on X that the suspect was paroled into the US on Sept 8, 2021, under a Biden-era programme for Afghan nationals called ‘Operation Allies Welcome’.
President Trump described him as “a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan, a hellhole on Earth,” in a video message late Wednesday. He said the suspect’s status was extended “under legislation signed by President (Joe) Biden.”
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Trump had requested 500 more troops to be sent to Washington, DC.
Tens of thousands of Afghans entered the US under special immigration protections following the chaotic US withdrawal from that country in 2021 under former President Biden.
“We must now re-examine every alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden,” said Trump in his address.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services said it had halted processing of all Afghan immigration requests pending a review of vetting protocols.
The FBI said it had launched an international terrorism investigation.
The US attorney for Washington DC, Jeanine Pirro, said the suspected assailant had been living in the western state of Washington and had driven across the country to the nation’s capital.
In what she called a “brazen and targeted” attack, Pirro said the gunman opened fire with a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver on a group of guardsmen on patrol Wednesday just a few blocks shy of the White House.
“One guardsman is struck, goes down, and then the shooter leans over and strikes the guardsman again. Another guardsman is struck several times,” Pirro said.
Both soldiers remained in critical condition on Thursday, while the suspected shooter was in detention in hospital. He was charged with three counts of assault with intent to killcharges that Pirro said would immediately be upgraded to first-degree murder if one of the guardsmen died.
Officials said they still had no clear understanding of the motive behind the shooting.
CIA director John Ratcliffe said the suspect had been part of a CIA-backed “partner force” fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and had been brought to the United States as part of a program to evacuate Afghans who had worked with the agency.
FBI director Kash Patel told reporters Thursday that officials were investigating any associates the suspect had either back home or in the United States.
“That is what a broad-based international terrorism investigation looks like,” Patel said, without elaborating on what the precise terrorism motive might be.
The incident brings together three politically explosive issues: Trump’s controversial use of the military at home, immigration, and the legacy of the US war in Afghanistan.
Trump has deployed troops to several cities, all run by Democrats, including Washington, Los Angeles and Memphis. The move has prompted multiple lawsuits and allegations of authoritarian overreach by the White House.
In the wake of Wednesday’s shooting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced 500 more troops would deploy to Washington, bringing the total to 2,500. This despite a federal judge last week ordering a temporary suspension of the deployment on the grounds that it was likely illegal.
Afghan legacy
The heads of the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security and other senior Trump appointees all insisted that Lakanwal had been granted unvetted access to the United States because of lax asylum policies in the wake of the chaotic final US withdrawal from Afghanistan under former president Joe Biden.
But AfghanEvac, a group that helped resettle Afghans in the US after the military withdrawal, said they undergo “some of the most extensive security vetting” of any migrants.
While Lakanwal had applied for asylum during the Biden administration, his application was approved under the Trump administration, the group said.
“This individual’s isolated and violent act should not be used as an excuse to define or diminish an entire community,” said its president, Shawn VanDiver.
More than 190,000 Afghans have been resettled to the United States since the Taliban takeover, according to the US State Department.
