The suspect in the shooting near the White House, in which two National Guard members were injured, is an Afghan migrant who entered the United States in 2021, President Donald Trump said Wednesday.
Trump urged his administration to re-examine Afghan immigrants who arrived during the Biden administration. “This heinous assault was an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror,” he said in pre-taped remarks from Florida. “We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden.”
US media identified the accused as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who came to the US under Operation Allies Welcome and resettled in Bellingham, Washington. Officials are still verifying his details, and his motive remains unclear.
Operation Allies Welcome was a Biden-era program to resettle thousands of Afghans who assisted the US during the Afghanistan war and faced potential reprisals from the Taliban after the US withdrawal.
Lakanwal reportedly applied for asylum in December 2024; his request was approved on April 23 this year, three months after President Trump took office. Authorities say he has no criminal history.
Citing law enforcement sources, the New York Post reported Lakanwal was allegedly lying in wait near Farragut West Metro Station in Northwest D.C. at about 2:15 p.m., then opened fire, striking a female guard in the chest and then the head. He allegedly fired at a second guard before a third guard nearby subdued him.
Condemning the attack on X, Trump wrote the perpetrator “will have to pay a heavy price,” calling him “the animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded,” and saying the suspect, though severely wounded, “will pay a very steep price.”
