An Afghan refugee who worked with the U.S. military in his homeland is accused of opening fire on two National Guard troops in the nation’s capital after having driven across the country to launch the ambush, officials said.
FBI Director Kash Patel said suspected gunman Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, traveled from his home in Bellingham, Washington, to carry out his “heinous act of terrorism” that critically wounded West Virginia National Guard troops who were on assignment from West Virginia.
Prosecutors charged him with assault with intent to kill and gun-related offenses, while Army Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, and Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, cling to life following Wednesday’s ambush.
Mr. Patel said his agency is investigating evidence of terrorism linked to Mr. Lakanwal, who came to America after the U.S. military pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Mr. Lakanwal had partnered with the U.S. government and the CIA in Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold, before the withdrawal.
The suspect was in one of the CIA’s “Zero Units,” a shadowy paramilitary group of Afghan natives who conducted strikes on Taliban assets, according to The New York Times.
Human rights organizations said Zero Units were known for their brutality and referred to the crews as “death squads.” At least one Afghan national was denied entry into the States because of his time as a CIA-backed combatant.
Mr. Lakanwal arrived in the U.S. under then-President Biden’s “Operation Allies Welcome,” which resettled Afghans who helped American forces. He applied for asylum in December 2024 and had his status approved in April by the Trump administration, officials said.
Mr. Patel blamed the former president’s program for allowing Mr. Lakanwal within U.S. borders in the first place, a point echoed by Mr. Ratcliffe.
“This Afghan national was paroled in by the Biden administration,” the CIA director said in a statement. “Regardless if his asylum was granted or not, this monster would not have been removed because of his parole.”
Mr. Ratcliffe said immigration requests from Afghan nationals have been stopped immediately as officials review security protocols.
“The Trump administration is also reviewing all asylum cases approved under the Biden administration, which failed to vet these applicants on a massive scale,” he said.
Mr. Lakanwal lived about 90 miles north of Seattle with his wife and five children.
Investigative materials recovered at the family’s home suggested connections in San Diego, but Mr. Patel was mum about specifics at Thursday’s briefing.
A gunman opened fire Wednesday afternoon on two National Guard members near the Farragut West Metro station in the District of Columbia, about two blocks from the White House.
The assailant shot one of the Guardsmen, leaned over and shot them again, and then unloaded several shots on another Guardsman. A fellow soldier stopped the carnage by shooting the gunman.
Mr. Lakanwal remains hospitalized following the attack. No motive has been cited by authorities.
The National Guard has been a daily presence in the District after President Trump deployed troops for a crime crackdown launched this summer.
More than 2,200 soldiers from multiple Republican-led states patrol the District’s inner core, Metro stations and tourist hotspots as part of the mission. The Department of Defense extended its deployment through the end of February.
Violent crime plunged after the troops arrived, but local leaders in the District recently won a court ruling calling the deployment unlawful. The White House has two weeks left to appeal the ruling.
Late Wednesday, Mr. Trump said the U.S. will reexamine every Afghan national who was let in under Mr. Biden’s refugee program.
Mr. Trump said the targeted shooting of the National Guard was “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror.”
“It was a crime against our entire nation,” the president said.
