{"id":600343,"date":"2025-11-29T01:46:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T01:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/600343\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T01:46:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T01:46:23","slug":"us-halts-asylum-rulings-as-national-guard-shooting-suspect-faces-murder-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/600343\/","title":{"rendered":"US halts asylum rulings as National Guard shooting suspect faces murder charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, 24, were taken to hospital in critical condition after the Wednesday afternoon shooting near the White House.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump announced on Thursday evening that Ms Beckstrom had died.<\/p>\n

\"APTOPIXMembers of the National Guard patrol in front of the Lincoln Memorial (Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/AP)<\/p>\n

US Attorney Jeanine Pirro\u2019s office said the charges against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War, now include one count of first-degree murder and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed.<\/p>\n

Ms Beckstrom and Mr Wolfe were deployed with the West Virginia National Guard as part of President Donald Trump\u2019s crime-fighting mission that federalised the Washington DC police force.<\/p>\n

The president has also deployed or tried to deploy National Guard members to other cities to assist with his mass deportation efforts, but has faced court challenges.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump called the shooting a \u201cterrorist attack\u201d and criticised the Biden administration for enabling Afghans who worked with US forces during the Afghanistan War to enter the country.<\/p>\n

The president has said he wants to \u201cpermanently pause migration\u201d from poorer nations and expel millions of immigrants from the country.<\/p>\n

The director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said in a post on the social platform X that all asylum decisions will be paused \u201cuntil we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

In an interview on Fox News, Ms Pirro said there are \u201cmany charges to come\u201d beyond the upgraded murder charge.<\/p>\n

She said her heart goes out to the family of Ms Beckstrom, who volunteered to serve and \u201cended up being shot ambush-style on the cold streets of Washington DC\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ms Pirro said officials have been working around the clock to determine the suspect\u2019s motive.<\/p>\n

\"NationalNational Guard members, from left, Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe and Specialist Sarah Beckstrom (US Attorney\u2019s Office via AP)<\/p>\n

Investigators are executing warrants in the state of Washington, where Lakanwal lived, and other parts of the country.<\/p>\n

Defence secretary Pete Hegseth visited National Guard troops in the nation\u2019s capital on Friday and led them in a prayer for Ms Beckstrom and Mr Wolfe.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of you may have known her,\u201d Mr Hegseth said of Ms Beckstrom.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously a beautiful human being and a great American willing to serve her country brutally targeted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Hegseth said he and his wife briefly visited Mr Wolfe on Thursday night \u201cto be there, lay hands on him, pray over him\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Wolfe remains in \u201cvery critical condition\u201d, West Virginia governor Patrick Morrisey said on Friday.<\/p>\n

He ordered state flags to be flown at half-staff in recognition of Ms Beckstrom\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir courage and commitment to duty represent the very best of our state,\u201d Mr Morrisey said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, 24, were taken to hospital in critical condition after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-600343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115630466768417979","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}