Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe and Spc. Sarah Beckstrom of the West Virginia National Guard had been on duty in the streets of D.C. for three months when they were shot in what officials have described as a “brazen and targeted” attack.
Wolfe, 24, and Beckstrom, 20, were critically wounded in the shooting Wednesday outside the White House complex and had undergone surgery. Wolfe, from Martinsburg, began his service with the West Virginia Air National Guard in 2019. Beckstrom is from Summersville and began serving with the West Virginia Army National Guard in 2023. Both had been in Washington since August.
Both Wolfe and Beckstrom were shot less than 24 hours after they were deputized to maintain their status to conduct patrols in the district, the National Guard’s Joint Task Force-D.C. said in a statement to The Post.
In a news conference on Thanksgiving morning, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said officials have spoken frequently with the guard members’ loved ones since the attack.
“Two families are shattered and destroyed and torn apart as the result of the actions of one man,” Pirro said.
On Thursday, she praised Wolfe and Beckstrom as “dedicated service members” who had answered Trump’s call for troops to come to keep Washington “safe and beautiful.”
“They took the charge. They volunteered,” she said. “They put their lives on the line for people they don’t even know.”
About 2:15 p.m. Wednesday, Wolfe and Beckstrom had been on patrol near 17th and I streets in Northwest Washington when a lone gunman opened fire on the troops with a Smith & Wesson .357-caliber revolver, officials said. The shooter struck one Guard member, then leaned over and struck the person again, Pirro said on Thursday. The second Guard member was struck several times, she said, before other troops responded and subdued the gunman.
Pirro said officials would bring charges against 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, including three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and three counts of possession of a firearm during a violent crime. If either of the victims dies, Pirro said her office would bring a first-degree murder charge.
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