- FBI treats National Guard shooting as terrorism.
- Incident occurred near White House, Washington DC.
- Two National Guard members were shot.
Patel added that the alleged gunman, an Afghan national, had previously worked in Afghanistan with US soldiers and intelligence.
During the same briefing, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro for the District of Columbia named the victims as Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, 24. Following the incident on Wednesday afternoon, both were critically injured and admitted to the hospital.
Pirro also warned that the charges could be upgraded depending on the victims' condition:
"We are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree. But make no mistake, if they do not, that will certainly be the charge."
Pirro stated that the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, drove across the country to the US capital to carry out a" ambush- style" attack with a. 357 Smith & Wesson handgun. He's presently charged with assault with intent to kill while fortified and possession of an arm during a crime of violence. Pirro stated that
" it's too soon to say"
what the suspect's provocations were.
The 29- year-old suspect has been in the US since 2021, when he arrived as part of Operation Abettors Drink, a Joe Biden administration trouble that has dislocated knockouts of thousands of Afghans after the US retirement.
Officials say the initiative sent approximately 76,000 evacuees to the United States, many of them were former interpreters and staff who worked with US troops and diplomats.
According to former landlady Kristina Widman, the suspect, named as Lakamal, has been residing in Bellingham, Washington, around 80 miles (120 kilometers) north of Seattle, with his wife and five children.
Before coming to the United States in 2021, he worked with the US government, including the CIA, "as a member of a partner force in Kandahar," according to officials.
Following the suspect's arrest, Trump stated that the United States will rethink" every single alien" who entered the nation from Afghanistan under Biden.
Shortly later, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services declared on X that it'll no longer handle any immigration requests for Afghan citizens, effectively incontinently.
What evidence has the FBI released about possible accomplices?
The FBI has not released direct substantiation about possible cohorts in the firing of the two National Guard members near the WhiteHouse. Still, FBI Director Kash Patel has stated that the disquisition is ongoing, and authorities are looking into all angles, including the possibility of cohorts.
The disquisition involves scrupulous examination of colorful leads, but no public details or concrete substantiation about cohorts in this specific firing have been barred as of now. Raids on related parcels have been conducted as part of the inquiry, but the FBI is maintaining an active posture in exploring all possible connections.
Therefore, while the FBI is probing the implicit involvement of others, no verified substantiation or suspects beyond the known bushwhacker have been intimately linked yet. The inquiry remains active and may reveal more as it progresses.