One of two injured National Guard Soldiers has died after ambush near White House

President Donald Trump announced Thursday evening that one of the West Virginia National Guard soldiers wounded in what authorities have described as a deliberate attack near the White House has died.

U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, succumbed to her injuries hours after she and fellow Guardsman Andrew Wolfe, 24, were shot while patrolling near the Farragut West Metro station on Wednesday afternoon. Beckstrom’s death, he said, occurred just before his planned holiday call with deployed U.S. troops. Calling her a “highly respected, young, magnificent person,” Trump told service members, “She’s just passed away. She’s no longer with us.” Wolfe, he added, “is fighting for his life” and remains in critical condition.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro issued a statement shortly afterward, honoring Beckstrom as a hero who “volunteered to serve DC on Thanksgiving for people she never met.” She wrote, “May she rest in peace. It is now time to avenge her death and secure justice.”

Beckstrom enlisted in the West Virginia National Guard in June 2023, where she served as a military police soldier with the 863rd Military Police Company. The commander of the Joint Task Force District of Columbia confirmed Army National Guard Spc. Sarah Beckstrom’s death in a statement Thursday night, hailing her as “a hero.”  Col. Larry Doane said in a statement: “This is a devastating loss to our National Guard family. Spc. Sarah Beckstrom came to the District from West Virginia to make our nation’s capital safe and beautiful. She is a hero and we mourn her passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with her loved ones and with the West Virginia National Guard.”

Federal officials say the shooting occurred around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday when the suspect — identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal — allegedly approached the Guardsmen and opened fire with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver. Pirro said the shooter first struck one soldier at close range, leaned over, fired again, then shot the second Guardsman repeatedly. Nearby National Guard members responded immediately, confronting and ultimately wounding the attacker before taking him into custody. Lakanwal, 29, was hospitalized under guard.

Authorities described the attack as both “brazen” and “targeted,” noting that investigators believe the suspect drove from Washington state with the intention of harming Guard personnel. FBI Director Kash Patel said the shooting is now part of an “ongoing investigation of terrorism.” Patel confirmed that investigators have executed multiple search warrants across the country, including at the suspect’s residence in Bellingham, Washington, where he lived with his wife and five children. Agents have interviewed family members and associates both there and in San Diego.

According to federal officials, Lakanwal is an Afghan national who entered the United States in 2021 through a Biden administration resettlement initiative and was granted asylum in 2024. CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Lakanwal previously worked with “a partner force in Kandahar” alongside U.S. government personnel before the American withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Patel said authorities are scrutinizing the suspect’s background and any potential connections overseas or within the United States. Evidence from the scene has been sent to the FBI laboratory in Quantico as part of what he described as a “coast-to-coast investigation.”

The National Guard remains a major component of the administration’s security strategy for Washington, with more than 2,000 personnel assigned to the city.  Trump said “millions of Americans” were praying for the soldiers’ families. “Unfortunately,” he added, “two families are shattered and destroyed and torn apart as the result of the actions of one man.”

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