A man named Rahmanullah Lakanwal from Afghanistan has so far been identified as the sole suspect in the Washington DC shooting this week. US authorities have since disclosed to American media that the 29-year-old male took aim at two National Guard members near the White House on Wednesday (US time).
The victims have since been named as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24. Of these, the former US Army Specialist has died, Trump announced during a Thursday Thanksgiving call with US troops.
US attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, said at a Thursday morning news conference that Lakanwal will be charged with three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.
How did Afghan man Rahmanullah Lakanwal come to the US?
Shortly after the DC shooting, multiple US reports started citing law enforcement sources, suggesting that the suspected gunman was from Afghanistan. While still at his Mar-a-Lago resort, US President Donald Trump came down hard on the Joe Biden administration, holding it responsible for bringing Afghan nationals to the US.
“We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden,” he told reporters in Florida. “And we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country.”
The USCIS also subsequently announced formally that all immigration requests involving Afghan nationals had been stopped effective immediately. Initial American media reports, including ones by the New York Post, claimed that Rahmanullah Lakanwal had overstayed his visa after being brought into the US under the Biden administration.
Multiple law enforcement sources have since confirmed to various US outlets, including CBS News, that the 29-year-old DC shooting suspect entered the country in 2021.
Additionally, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has since stated on X, “The suspect who shot our brave National Guardsmen is an Afghan national who was one of the many unvetted, mass paroled into the United States under Operation Allies Welcome on September 8, 2021, under the Biden Administration.”
A Department of Homeland Security official also backed the claims, telling CBS News that Lakanwal was parolled into America on humanitarian grounds that year. They also said that the suspect in question ultimately applied for asylum in 2024 under the Biden administration. He originally came to the country under a resettlement program for Afghan who fled the Taliban takeover in the country.
However, he was only granted the same from the US government in April this year under the Trump administration, three people with privy to the case said, as per the New York Times.
Many such Afghan nationals who were allowed into the US through the Biden-era Operation Allies Welcome after they partnered with the military during the 20-year war were given special immigrant visas. Others were issued a temporary humanitarian status as ‘parole.’
#AfghanEvac, the San Diego-based refugee group that helps resettle Afghans who assisted during the US war in the country, also said in a statement that Lakanwal’s asylum was approved under the Trump administration despite applying it during the Biden era, as per the Associated Press.
White House shooting suspect was linked to US, CIA?
NYT cited Afghan and US officials in its reportage detailing that the suspected DC shooter was linked to a CIA-backed paramilitary group in the past. The so-called Zero Units were originally known as Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams. They used to head night raids and secrets missions across Afghanistan during the US war in the South Asian nation.
On Thursday, the CIA also confirmed to CBS News that Lakanwal had previously worked with the America government, including the agency itself. He served as a partner force’s member in Kandahar, which ended in 2021 as the US withdrew from Afghanistan.
On top of that, CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Fox News, “In the wake of the disastrous Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation.”
A former Afghan commando told the US outlet that Lakanwal headed an Afghan special forces unit in the country’s south, which led him to work directly with international troops like the US and British forces.
The White House shooting suspect’s former landlord, Kristina Widman, said Lakanwal had been staying Washington state with his wife and five children.