Donald Trump announces death of National Guard member after Washington shooting
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U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has announced that National Guard shooting suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal will face a first-degree murder charge after Sarah Beckstrom, one of the soldiers wounded in an “ambush” outside a Metro station in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, died of her injuries.
President Donald Trump announced Beckstrom’s death at a Thanksgiving press conference Thursday evening, calling her a “highly respected, young, magnificent person” and “outstanding in every way.”
Her family joined her at her hospital bedside. “My baby girl has passed to glory. If I don’t talk to you don’t be offend this has been a horrible tragedy,” her father, Gary Beckstrom, later posted on social media.
Andrew Wolfe, the other guardsman shot in the incident, is still “fighting for his life” and “in very bad shape,” Trump said Thursday night. He remains in critical condition.
Lakanwal, the suspected shooter, is a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the U.S. in September 2021. He was living in Bellingham, Washington, with his wife and five children and working as a delivery driver, according to officials.
The president has escalated his anti-immigration agenda in the wake of the shooting, vowing to “permanently” freeze immigration from “third world” countries as authorities “reexamine” certain green card holders.
Father of Sarah Beckstrom posts heartbreaking tribute after dying from injuries in shooting attack
U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom volunteered with the West Virginia National Guard after graduating from high school two years ago.
She died on Thanksgiving at age 20, succumbing from injuries in shooting attack near the White House one day earlier.
Her family joined her at her hospital bedside to say farewell.
“I’m holding her hand right now,” her father, Gary Beckstrom, told The New York Times on Thursday. “She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery.” That was all he would say.
He later posted on social media, “My baby girl has passed to glory. If I don’t talk to you don’t be offend this has been a horrible tragedy.”
(US Attorney’s Office)
Alex Woodward28 November 2025 20:15
DHS blames Biden for difficulty ‘vetting’ Afghans after suspected gunman approved for asylum in US
Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin defended the Trump administration’s actions to severely restrict immigration into the United States from Afghanistan and other countries, including reviewing green card holders who could now be at risk of removal.
She also blamed the Biden administration for “extremely difficult and complex” vetting of Afghan nationals following U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Afghanistan “is now run by the Taliban while al-Qa’ida, ISIS-K, TTP, and other terrorist groups run rampant in Afghanistan — making the vetting of Afghan nationals extremely difficult and complex,” McLaughlin wrote. “Many hate our country and seek to bring it harm.”
But the agency painted a different picture of life in Afghanistan earlier this year when the administration stripped legal protections for thousands of people who lived and worked legally in the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said their country has an “improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent [sic] them from returning to their home country.”
The agency also said “notable improvements” in Afghanistan’s national security, now under the control of the Taliban, and no longer “pose a threat to their personal safety due to armed conflict or extraordinary and temporary conditions.”
The notice in the federal register also claims that “the Taliban government is promoting tourism to shift its global image.”
“Tourism to Afghanistan has increased, as the rates of kidnappings have reduced,” the notice added. “Tourists are sharing their experiences on social media, highlighting the peaceful countryside, welcoming locals, and the cultural heritage, according to some reports.”
Alex Woodward28 November 2025 19:18
Troops to join local cops on DC patrol in major shakeup
In the wake of a shooting that targeted National Guard troops, local law enforcement will be paired up with Guard service members on their patrols in Washington, D.C., according to an email obtained by The Washington Post.
“Officers will conduct high-visibility patrols with the National Guard and provide assistance as needed,” the message sent to D.C. leadership said.
The dynamic, if enacted for a longer-term basis, could mark a dramatic shift in how the U.S. military operates inside the country, as Donald Trump seeks to expand federalized troops in cities across the country despite boundaries that prevent military personnel from performing local law enforcement.
Last week, a federal judge barred Trump from deploying National Guard troops in the nation’s capital, which the administration has appealed to the D.C. appellate court.
(REUTERS)
Alex Woodward28 November 2025 18:42
Suspect served in CIA-backed strike unit in Afghanistan to suspect
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, was originally from a village in the province of Khost in Afghanistan.
He reportedly served in the Afghan Army for 10 years alongside U.S. Special Forces as part of the global War on Terror.
Alex Woodward28 November 2025 17:45
Dramatic moment National Guard trade gunfire with DC shooting suspect caught on video
The dramatic moment National Guard members traded fire with a gunman in Washington, D.C., on Thanksgiving Eve has been caught on video.
Photos and video, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, show National Guard members reacting to the attack and running down the street. The footage appears to have been taken by a witness who was inside a car driving past the street corner.
Katie Hawkinson28 November 2025 17:25
Nancy Mace calls for DC shooting suspect to be executed: ‘He doesn’t deserve to live’
Rep. Nancy Mace and a chorus of other Republicans called for the man accused of shooting two members of the West Virginia National Guard, killing one of them, to be executed.
Eric Garcia28 November 2025 17:00
What we know about Andrew Wolfe, National Guard member in critical condition
West Virginia National Guard service member Sarah Beckstrom, 20, had enlisted with her state’s guard in 2023, the same year she graduated from high school.
She died from her injuries after she was shot Wednesday while deployed in Washington, D.C.
Another guard member, 24-year-old U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, remains in critical condition.
He works as a lineman with Frontier Communications, according to the Communications Workers of America, a union that represents telecom workers.
Wolfe is from Martinsburg, West Virginia, and is the son of a deputy sheriff in Berkeley County.
Like Beckstrom, he enlisted in the National Guard after graduating high school.
“We still have hope. He’s still in critical condition,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Friday. “We are doing everything we can to assist his family and to make sure that they have everything they need during this difficult time for them.”
(AP)
Alex Woodward28 November 2025 16:51
Pirro claims US didn’t vet Afghan refugees despite Trump admin granting suspect asylum
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro baselessly alleged that Afghans who entered the United States in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal in 2021 — including the man suspected of shooting two National Guard troops — were not “vetted” before entering the country.
“Look, there was no vetting. If you think there was vetting, I have a bridge to sell you,” she told Fox News Friday.
“If you saw the chaos that was going on at that airport in Kabul in Afghanistan, it was typical of what was going on in the Biden administration,” she said. “Let’s stop namby-pambing around with this ‘oh, he was vetted.’ There was no ‘vetted.’ The welcome mat was thrown down.”
Pirro said “we don’t know who they are” until we “suffer the consequences.”
Roughly 76,000 Afghan refugees were allowed entry into the United States in 2021, according to a report at the time by the Department of Homeland Security.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal is expected to be among the 3,300 of those refugees that year who were granted a “special immigrant visa,” which allowed for expedited entry because of his employment with the CIA and other U.S. forces.
He was reportedly granted asylum in the country in April 2025 — under Trump.
Alex Woodward28 November 2025 16:15
Trump administration has not ruled out deporting suspect’s family
Asked whether his administration is considering deporting the family of the man accused of gunning down two National Guard service members, Donald Trump said he is “looking at that right now.”
“Well, we’re looking at that right now,” he said Thursday. “We’re looking at the whole situation with family.”
Lakanwal, 29, is believed to have arrived in the United States in 2021 during Joe Biden’s administration and the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. He applied for asylum in 2024 and was granted asylum in April 2025 under the Trump administration.
He had previously worked with the U.S. government, including the CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, according to CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Lakanwa was believed to have been living in Bellingham, Washington with his wife and five children and working as a delivery driver, according to officials.
Law enforcement officials have not publicly identified a motive for the shooting or what compelled him to drive across the country to allegedly attack National Guard members.
(AP)
Alex Woodward28 November 2025 16:00
White House social media account labels Trump’s latest anti-immigrant rant ‘one of the most important messages ever’
Trump’s vitriolic late-night Thanksgiving message on Truth Social unloaded on Governor Tim Walz (whom the president called a highly offensive slur for people with intellectual disabilities), claimed Somalians are roaming streets looking for “prey” and vowed to impose sweeping restrictions on immigration.
A social media account serving as the White House rapid response communications channel called the rant “one of the most important messages ever” from the president.
Alex Woodward28 November 2025 15:33