U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom worked for the military police and joined the West Virginia Army National Guard because, a friend said, she saw herself one day in a career upholding the law at the F.B.I.
She died Thursday evening, at age 20, from injuries suffered in the ambush shooting near the White House on Wednesday, Gov. Patrick Morrisey said.
Her family spent an anguished Thanksgiving at her side, saying goodbye.
“I’m holding her hand right now,” her father, Gary Beckstrom, said when reached Thursday. “She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery.” That was all he would say.
On Thursday evening Mr. Beckstrom posted on social media, “My baby girl has passed to glory. If I don’t talk to you don’t be offend this has been a horrible tragedy.”
The other member of the West Virginia Guard shot in the attack, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remained in critical condition in a hospital on Friday, the U.S. attorney in Washington, Jeanine Pirro, told Fox News. “We still have hope,” she said.
On Thursday, a man at Sergeant Wolfe’s family home told a reporter, “All we need right now are prayers for my son.” He declined to say more.
Specialist Beckstrom and Sergeant Wolfe were on patrol just blocks from the White House at around 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday, when, officials say, a man, Rahmanullah Lakanwal rounded a corner, raised a .357 revolver and immediately opened fire on them.
Other nearby members of the Guard subdued Mr. Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan who was shot during the encounter, officials said. He was expected to be charged with first-degree murder.
Specialist Beckstrom, of Summersville, W.Va., started service in 2023, just out of high school. She was assigned to the 863rd Military Police Company, 111th Engineer Brigade of the West Virginia Army National Guard.
Sergeant Wolfe, of Martinsburg, W.Va., entered the service in 2019. He was assigned to the Force Support Squadron, 167th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard.
Both had been deployed to Washington since August, when President Trump ordered troops to the capital as part of what his administration described as a crackdown on crime.
Specialist Beckstrom was a 2023 graduate of Webster County High School, according to a social media post by the West Virginia National Guard. Maj. Gen. Jim Seward, the adjutant general, said the Guard would “honor her memory by carrying forward her commitment to service, integrity, and excellence.”
The Webster County Veteran’s Auxiliary scheduled three nights of vigils for Specialist Beckstrom and Sergeant Wolfe, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. “Our hearts are absolutely broken,” the group said in a social media post.
Adam Carr, Specialist Beckstrom’s former boyfriend, described her as “caring and tenderhearted.” She enjoyed nature, road trips and being with her family, he said.
“As long as she was with people who cared about her, she was having a good time,” Mr. Carr said.
Specialist Beckstrom was not initially excited to go to Washington, he said, and once she was there, she talked about encountering people who didn’t want the Guard in the capital. But eventually, he said, she grew to enjoy the city — going to museums and walking among the memorials, doing things she couldn’t do in West Virginia.
“She didn’t like being away from people, going to strange places, dealing with things she didn’t want to,” he said. “She liked it better at home. She had better times the more she warmed up to it.”
Specialist Beckstrom’s social media is a wholesome sampling of her cooking habits — making butter and canning hot peppers — and her connection to faith and family. She posted a happy Mother’s Day message in May, and an Easter message in 2023: “He is risen.”
Governor Morrisey said Thursday evening that Specialist Beckstrom “served with courage, extraordinary resolve, and an unwavering sense of duty to her state and to her nation.” On Wednesday, the governor had mistakenly said that both of the Guard members hurt in the shooting had died.
The governor asked all West Virginians to observe a statewide moment of silence or prayer at 2:15 p.m. Friday to honor Sergeant Wolfe and Specialist Beckstrom. He ordered flags lowered to half-staff to recognize Specialist Beckstrom’s death.
A friend of Sergeant Wolfe’s, Brooke Davison, said they had met in a cornhole league several years ago. The two of them would briefly catch up over FaceTime, but he never expressed concern for his safety in Washington, she said on Thursday. She said he had promised to tell her about his time when he returned from his mission.
“Andy is easily one of the strongest, determined and God-fearing men I know,” Ms. Davison said. “I have no doubt he has the willpower in him to come out on top of this.”
Sergeant Wolfe is a lineman with Frontier Communications and a member of the Communications Workers of America, Local 2222, in Martinsburg, according to a statement from the union.
He attended Musselman High School and graduated in the Class of 2019, the Berkeley County schools said in a statement. The high school’s principal, Alicia Riggleman, said that “during his time at Musselman High, he was an active, engaged and high-achieving student who embodied the Applemen spirit, contributing positively to our school community both academically and athletically.”
One neighbor described Sergeant Wolfe, known as Andy, as a nice young man, who played basketball outside of his childhood home.
Rob Blair, the Berkeley County sheriff, said Andrew Wolfe’s father, Jason, was one of his patrol sergeants. Sheriff Blair called Andrew Wolfe a “fine young man.”
Corporal Andrew Peck, of the sheriff’s office, said he has known Andrew Wolfe for six years. Sergeant Wolfe — “a good kid” — would come with his father to the sheriff’s office, Mr. Peck said. He added that he was hurting for his colleague. “Nobody deserved that, especially before Thanksgiving,” he said.
Lisa Amistadi said she got chills when she found out Mr. Wolfe was one of the Guard members wounded in the shooting. She had seen him while she was working at Domino’s Pizza in Inwood, W.Va — he had come in to pick up food over the years. He was courteous and always in his military uniform, she recalled. Ms. Amistadi, 51, called the shooting “heartbreaking.” She supports the deployment that brought Sergeant Wolfe to Washington: “I am happy the National Guard is out and trying to protect us,” she said.
William Zitsch, 71, lives in the Martinsburg, W. Va., neighborhood where Sergeant Wolfe grew up. Mr. Zitsch, who does not know Sergeant Wolfe, said he wasn’t surprised by the shooting: Violence against the Guard troops, he said, was inevitable since “people were not happy about it.” He blamed Mr. Trump. “They shouldn’t have been there in the first place,” he said.
Christina Morales is a Times reporter covering Latino communities in the United States.
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