On November 26, 2025, a 29‑year-old Afghan national named Rahmanullah Lakanwal allegedly carried out a brazen ambush near the White House in Washington, D.C., targeting two uniformed members of the West Virginia National Guard. The attack, which occurred just blocks from the White House, left one guard member dead and the other critically wounded. The deceased soldier was Sarah Beckstrom, 20 years old, and the wounded was Andrew Wolfe, 24. According to prosecutors, Lakanwal drove across the country from Washington State, armed with a .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson revolver, and committed what investigators call an “ambush‑style” attack.
In the immediate aftermath, both soldiers were rushed to hospital. Beckstrom was wounded in the head and chest and underwent surgery, but her injuries proved fatal. She died the next day. Wolfe survived — though he remains in critical condition and is still fighting for his life. At the scene, other Guardsmen and law enforcement quickly subdued Lakanwal after he was shot. His wounds are not believed to be life‑threatening.
On Friday, prosecutors formally upgraded charges against Lakanwal. According to the office of Jeanine Pirro, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, he now faces a first‑degree murder charge in connection with Beckstrom’s death. Additional charges include three counts of possession of a firearm during a violent crime and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed. Authorities have indicated that more charges are likely as the investigation continues.
Lakanwal’s background has become a central and controversial aspect of the public discussion. He reportedly arrived in the United States legally on September 8, 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome (OAW), a humanitarian parole program established to resettle Afghans who had assisted U.S. military forces during the withdrawal from Afghanistan. He subsequently applied for asylum, which was granted earlier in 2025. Before emigrating, he served in Afghanistan as part of a CIA-backed paramilitary unit.While supporters of the resettlement program argue that entrants undergo vetting, opponents of the program have seized on this incident to challenge the adequacy of such vetting procedures — especially for individuals with paramilitary backgrounds.
The tragic death of Beckstrom and the wounding of Wolfe have elicited widespread condemnation and political fallout. Donald Trump — who had ordered the deployment of National Guard troops to Washington as part of an expanded domestic security operation — called the shooting a “terrorist attack.” He publicly blamed the previous administration’s immigration and asylum policies for enabling the attacker’s presence in the United States. In response to the incident, federal authorities have halted all asylum decisions, at least for Afghan nationals, pending a review of vetting procedures.
Beyond the immediate human tragedy, the ambush has sparked deeper discussions about the role of National Guard troops in domestic policing operations, the security risks of deploying military personnel in urban environments, and the responsibility of immigration and resettlement systems to prevent individuals with problematic backgrounds from entering the country. As prosecutors move forward with more charges, law enforcement agencies continue to gather evidence and conduct searches in multiple states, while communities and political leaders wrestle with how to balance national security with humanitarian obligations — all amid mourning for the fallen soldier and hope for the recovery of the wounded.
