The man accused of shooting two National Guard members who were patrolling downtown D.C. last week, killing one of them, appeared to study his targets from behind a street corner before ambushing them, yelling “Allahu akbar!” as he shot both victims in the head, according to charging documents filed Tuesday.
Prosecutors disclosed those details at the first court hearing for Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who appeared on a video feed from his hospital bed, wincing in pain as he was formally charged with first-degree murder, assault with intent to kill while armed, and two counts of possessing a firearm during a crime of violence. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has said more charges are forthcoming.
In documents filed in D.C. Superior Court, prosecutors gave their first detailed account of the midafternoon shooting blocks from the White House. Lakanwal, they said, drove across the country to D.C., armed with a .357-caliber revolver. He studied the National Guard contingent for about one minute, then immediately fired at Spec. Sarah Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe as he turned a corner outside the Farragut West Metro station, prosecutors said.
A supervisor from the National Guard was talking to Beckstrom and Wolfe when both collapsed to the ground, and simultaneously saw Lakanwal “shooting a gun and screaming, ‘Allahu Akbar,’” prosecutors said. The phrase is Arabic for “God is great.”
The supervisor returned fire, striking Lakanwal. A witness then “jumped on” Lakanwal as the defendant attempted to reload his revolver. He was then subdued and arrested, according to the charging documents.
Authorities continue to investigate possible motives for the Thanksgiving-eve shooting, which they say was carried out by a lone gunman who entered the country after years of cooperating with U.S. forces in his native Afghanistan. Attorney General Pam Bondi has said she is considering seeking the death penalty. To do so, prosecutors first would have to transfer the case to federal district court and add a charge eligible for capital punishment.
Trump administration officials said after the shooting that they would tighten restrictions on immigration and asylum. Lakanwal came to the United States in 2021 through a Biden administration program after the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. He had worked for an Afghan counterterrorism squad known as a “Zero Unit,” which was backed by the CIA and U.S. forces.
The Trump administration granted him asylum in April. Lakanwal, his wife and five children resided in northwest Washington state, where hundreds of Afghan refugees were resettled after the U.S. evacuation.
“He betrayed us,” Pirro told reporters after Tuesday’s hearing.
“There are certainly many more charges to come,” she said on Fox News last week.
Official documents show Lakanwal’s age to be 29, but a former U.S. intelligence officer has said that probably is not accurate. Lakanwal joined a CIA-based unit in Afghanistan in 2011, and the agency restricts anyone younger than 18 from joining.
At the hearing Tuesday, a defense attorney pleaded not guilty to the charges on Lakanwal’s behalf. Speaking through an interpreter, Lakanwal gave brief responses during the hearing indicating that he understood his right to have an attorney and to remain silent, occasionally groaning and lifting the bed blankets to his face.
“I cannot open my eyes,” he said at one point. “I have pain.”
A magistrate judge, Renee Raymond, granted prosecutors’ request to detain Lakanwal pending trial despite his apparent lack of criminal history. The judge described the government’s case as “exceedingly strong.” She set his next court date for Jan. 14.
“It is fairly clear that he came across the country — 3,000 miles — armed, with a specific purpose in mind,” Raymond said, describing surveillance footage that appeared to show Lakanwal waiting for an opening to ambush the Guard contingent.
President Donald Trump said last week that Beckstrom and Wolfe, both from West Virginia, “were shot at point-blank range in a monstrous, ambush-style attack.”
“We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden,” Trump said.
Both Guard members had been deployed to D.C. since August, when Trump ordered troops to the city as part of what his administration described as a crusade against crime.
Beckstrom, who joined the Guard in 2023 after graduating from high school, died on Thanksgiving in a hospital bed with her parents by her side. She was 20. The former prom queen had hoped to start a career in the FBI, according to her ex-boyfriend Adam Carr. At first, she was nervous about deploying to the nation’s capital, but she grew to like it, he said.
“She is someone who is going to be remembered for a very, very long time,” West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) said at a news conference Monday. “She had her life tragically cut short by this terrible act of terrorism.”
Wolfe, 24, remains hospitalized in critical condition. He was able to respond when a nurse asked for a thumbs-up and also wiggled his toes, Morrisey said. “We take that as a positive sign,” he said, before adding, “I’m not here to speculate.”
The Guardsman’s mother had asked one thing, Morrisey said: “Please get the word out that my son Andrew needs prayer.”
Days before the shooting, a federal judge had ordered the Trump administration to withdraw the more than 2,000 National Guard members deployed to the capital since August. The Justice Department said in a court filing Monday that it will appeal that ruling, which has not taken effect.
Trump ordered 500 more Guard members deployed to the District after the shooting, and D.C. police have been temporarily accompanying Guard members in the aftermath of last week’s attack, The Washington Post reported.
Jenny Gathright contributed to this report.
The post Alleged National Guard shooter makes first court appearance from hospital bed appeared first on Washington Post.
