The National Guardswoman gunned down by a suspected terrorist in Washington DC was not expected to survive, her devastated father said Thursday.
West Virginia National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, of Summersville, West Virginia, had volunteered to work on Thanksgiving so that her colleagues with families could spend the holiday with them, officials revealed.
“She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery,” the father of Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, Gary Beckstrom, told the New York Times.
Sarah Beckstrom seen with her father Gary. Facebook / Gary Beckstrom
“I’m holding her hand right now,” the devastated dad added.
She later died, President Trump announced.
National Guard Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was also critically wounded and still clinging to life on Thursday.
A man at Wolfe’s family home told the Times Thursday: “All we need right now are prayers for my son.”
Beckstrom was shot in the head and chest with a .357 Magnum-caliber revolver, just blocks from the White House around 2 p.m. Wednesday when Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, allegedly opened fire.
Beckstrom seen in her graduation gown.
Facebook / Sarah Beckstrom
Wolfe was wounded with Beckstom’s weapon before a nearby Guardsman took down the terrorist with his pocket knife and a four hero servicemember shot the attacker in the buttocks and leg.
DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro during a press conference Thursday morning revealed the two guardsmen “were sworn in less than 24 hours before they were shot on the street in Washington.”
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The two service members were rushed to the hospital, underwent surgery and were in critical condition.
“They are critical — I think you understand the meaning of that. It’s not clear how this is going to end up. But let me be perfectly clear about how it will end up in this office — if one of them is to pass, and God forbid that happens, this is a murder one. Period. End of the story,” the DC federal prosecutor said.
Dramatic footage shows the immediate aftermath of a shooting near the White House that left two National Guard members wounded. Elizabeth Gomes via Storyful
Bondi said charges brought against Lakanwal would depend on if the pair live and she added the Justice Department is working at “lightspeed” to bring a case against him.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News early Thursday that Beckstrom had raised her hand to work the holiday for her comrades.
“She volunteered to be there on Thanksgiving — working today — she volunteers, as did many of those guardsmen and women so other people could be home with their families,” Bondi said.
“Yet now, their families are in hospital rooms with them while they are fighting for their lives.”
This photo combo shows, National Guard members, from left, Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe and Specialist Sarah Beckstrom on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. AP
Wolfe, of Martinsburg, W.Va., began his military service on Feb. 5, 2019, while Beckstrom entered the Guard on June 6, 2023, the West Virginia National Guard said.
Wolfe was assigned to the Force Support Squadron, 167th Airlift WIng of the West Virginia Air National Guard. Beckstrom was assigned to the 863rd Military Police Company, 111th Engineer Brigade in the West Virginia Army National Guard.
They had been stationed in DC since August as part of President Trump’s deployment of troops there to bring down crime. Beckstrom had been on Task Force orders in the Nation’s Capital.
Wolfe’s former high school in Inwood acknowledged him in a since-deleted tribue on social media.
Pam Bondi said that the charges brought against Rahmanullah Lakanwal depend on if the two victims live. FBI
“Our Applemen community is deeply saddened to learn that Musselman High School alumnus, Andrew Wolfe, was one of the National Guardsmen injured in the shooting in Washington, DC,” the statement said, WUSA 9 reported.
“Please keep Andrew, his family, and all those affected in your thoughts,” the post said. “Once an Appleman, always an Appleman.”
Lakanwal, an Afghan national, came to the US in 2021 under Biden-era Operation Allies Welcome and was settled in Bellingham, Washington.
The married dad of at least five kids applied for asylum in December and was approved under the Trump Administration in April. He hadn’t been granted permanent residency as applicants must wait one year from when they get asylum to apply for the permanent status.
Beckstrom was shot in the head and chest with a .357 Magnum-caliber revolver, just blocks from the White House. Facebook / Sarah Beckstrom
Lakanwal, armed with a 375 Smith and Wesson revolver, is suspected of staging an ambush near the Farragut West Metro Station in Northwest DC.
He reportedly only had four bullets in the gun he used to shoot Beckstrom first before picking up her weapon and proceeding to open fire on Wolfe.
A major with the National Guard was checking in on troops when he heard the gunfire and came to help. The major didn’t have a firearm and was only carrying a pocket knife when he sprung up on Lakanwal while he was reloading ammo, conservative lawyer and strategist Mike Davis reported, citing law enforcement sources.
The major stabbed Lakanwal in the head multiple times and wrestled him to the ground when a fourth Guardsman responded to the commotion and shot the alleged terrorist in the buttocks and leg.
U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro speaks during a press conference with FBI Director Kash Patel and other authorities about the shooting of two National Guard members, in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 27, 2025. REUTERS
They held Lakanwal down until he was cuffed.
Lakanwal is charged with possession of a firearm during a crime of violence and intent to kill while armed but the charges could be upgraded if either Wolfe or Beckstrom doesn’t make it.
Officials say Lakanwal carried out the crimes alone and the incident is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Thursday that Lakanwal “should never have been allowed to come” to the US.
What appears to be a bullet hole in a sidewalk planter at the scene a day after two National Guard soldiers were shot near the White House in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. AP
The CIA honcho confirmed that Lakanwal worked with the CIA in Afghanistan.
#Afghan Evac, a group of American army vets who help evacuate allies from Afghanistan, said Lakanwal previously served in NDS-03, one of the country’s elite counterterrorism units run by the CIA with direct U.S. intelligence and military support.
Lakanwal was evacuated from his home country by the US military in August 2021 when Kabul fell alongside tens of thousands of other Americans and immigrants seeking asylum, the non-profit reported.