WASHINGTON — A man accused of shooting two National Guard troops a few blocks from the White House pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to murder and assault charges during his first appearance before a judge via video from a hospital bed.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who was also shot, faces charges stemming from the Nov. 26 shooting that killed Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and wounded Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. His attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf during a brief court hearing in Washington, D.C.
Beckstrom and Wolfe were deployed with the West Virginia National Guard for President Trump’s law enforcement surge in the nation’s capital. The surge has flooded the city with federal agents and troops since August.
Authorities were investigating a possible motive for what they described as an ambush-style attack.
A prosecutor, Ariel Dean, described the shooting as a “shocking crime” and said it appears that Lakanwal “traversed the city to some extent” before approaching the troops and shooting them.
The magistrate judge ordered him detained, citing the “sheer terror that resulted” from Lakanwal’s actions.
The rare shooting of National Guard members on American soil came amid court fights and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration’s use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem.
Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that resettled Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country, officials said. Lakanwal applied for asylum during the Biden administration, but his asylum was approved under the Trump administration, #AfghanEvac said in a statement.
Trump called the shooting a “terrorist attack” and criticized the Biden administration for enabling Afghans who worked with U.S. forces during the Afghanistan war to enter the United States. The president has said he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and expel millions of immigrants from the country.
Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press.
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