Two National Guard soldiers were shot and critically wounded on Wednesday in downtown Washington near the White House in what officials described as a targeted ambush, and the suspect was in custody after suffering gunshot wounds during the incident.
The suspect was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national. Authorities said they had yet to determine a motive for the shooting.
According to DHS, Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era programme to resettle thousands of Afghans who assisted the US during the Afghanistan war and feared reprisals from Taliban forces who seized control of their homeland after the US withdrawal.
The DHS did not include other details of his immigration record, but a Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved on 23 April of this year, three months after President Donald Trump took office.
Lakanwal, 29, who resided in Washington state, had no known criminal history, the official said.
Trump, who was at his resort in Florida at the time of the attack, released a prerecorded video statement late on Wednesday calling the shooting “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror.” He said his administration would “re-examine” all Afghans who came to the US during Joe Biden’s presidency.
Late on Wednesday night, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency announced an immediate and indefinite halt to the “processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals” pending a review of security and vetting protocols.
The two soldiers, members of the West Virginia National Guard, were part of a “high-visibility patrol” around 2:15pm local time (1915 GMT) near the corner of 17th and I streets, a few blocks from the White House. The suspect came around a corner and “ambushed” them, Metropolitan Police Assistant Chief Jeff Carroll said at a press briefing.
After an exchange of gunfire, other National Guard troops subdued the shooter, he said. The two wounded soldiers were in critical condition at local hospitals, FBI Director Kash Patel said.
“This is a targeted shooting,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said at the briefing.
The shooter appeared to have acted alone, officials said.
In response to the shooting, Trump ordered 500 more guard soldiers deployed to Washington, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters. The additional troops will join about 2,200 already in the city as part of the president’s contentious immigration and crime crackdown targeting Democratic-led cities.
Vice President JD Vance, who was in Kentucky on Wednesday, said in a post on X that the shooting proved that the Trump administration’s immigration policy was justified.
“We must redouble our efforts to deport people with no right to be in our country,” he said.
Critics of the Trump administration’s immigration policy say it has employed illegally harsh tactics and swept up immigrants indiscriminately, including some with no criminal history and others here legally.
US stops processing Afghan immigration requests
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services said late on Wednesday it has stopped processing all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely after the shooting.
The move follows Trump’s call for his government to re-examine Afghan immigrants who entered the United States when Joe Biden was president.
“The protection and safety of our homeland and of the American people remains our singular focus and mission,” the US Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a post on X.
