A new video of Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the suspect involved in yesterday’s shooting near the White House, has surfaced on social media, showing him brandishing a weapon before an ambush that left one National Guard member dead and two shot dead.
Law enforcement officials told the AP and other media outlets that he is an Afghan national who arrived in the United States in September 2021. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday that she will seek the death penalty if any of the shooting victims die.
D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said at a news conference Thursday that the suspect faces three counts of attempted murder while armed, according to Bloomberg.
Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other administration officials quickly accused the Biden administration of allowing Lakanwala into the country and used the case to advocate for stricter immigration enforcement. This involves suspending reviews of Afghan immigration cases and re-examining those already in the US, potentially limiting settlement rights for Afghan allies of US forces.
Trump reacts
On Thursday, Trump also criticized the Biden administration’s handling of evacuation flights carrying Afghan asylum seekers during the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
During his Thanksgiving address to U.S. troops, Trump announced that Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, had died and that Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was “fighting for his life”.
“She just passed away. She’s no longer with us. She’s looking down on us right now. Her parents are with her,” Trump said. The president described Beckstrom as “an incredible person, outstanding in every way.”
Trump called the shooting a “terrorist attack” and suggested the gunman had become mentally unstable after the war and his departure from Afghanistan. “He was peeping. I mean, he was freaking out. It happens too often with these people,” he said.
While calling the suspect an “animal,” Trump said the shooter “will pay a very high price.” He said, “God bless our Great National Guard and our entire military and law enforcement. They are truly great people. I, as the President of the United States, and everyone associated with the office of the President, are with you!”
Meanwhile, federal authorities have launched a wide-ranging nationwide terrorism investigation into the incident and are conducting searches in Washington state and California.
(With input from agencies)
