Law enforcement officials have identified the suspected gunman in Wednesday’s shooting of two national guard members near the White House as a man from Afghanistan, as Donald Trump called the incident an “act of terror” and reiterated his attacks on immigrants and asylum seekers.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, is an Afghan national who entered the United States under a Biden-era policy allowing Afghans to enter after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.
The suspect, who is now in custody, was also shot and has injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening, according to a law enforcement official not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
Lakanwal was paroled into the United States through the Operation Allies Welcome program, which the Biden administration initiated to resettle people during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan after the two-decade war, the New York Times reported. Immigration authorities granted Lakanwal asylum earlier this year, according to CNN.
Speaking from Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday evening, Trump called the shooting “an act of terror”.
“I can report tonight that based on the best available information, the Department of Homeland Security is confident that the suspect in custody is a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan,” the president said in a brief video address.
“As we are filled with anguish and grief for those who were shot, we’re also filled with righteous anger and ferocious resolve,” Trump added. “As president of the United States, I am determined to ensure that the animal who perpetrated this atrocity pays the steepest possible price.”
Trump also took the opportunity to rail against the immigration policies of his predecessor Joe Biden, casting the shooting as the result of lax vetting of migrants from Afghanistan, a country that he described as “a hellhole on earth.
“He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021, on those infamous flights that everybody was talking about,” Trump said. The president’s statement did not acknowledge the vetting effort carried out by US military, intelligence and immigration agents.
Trump concluded his remarks by claiming that the attack justified the reconsideration of refugee and asylum status granted under previous administrations.
“We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden, 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 president said. “If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them.”
The shooting took place near the Farragut West metro station in the capital city. The two national guard members were shot with a handgun and were in critical condition.
Authorities did not immediately release their names. One of the shooting victims is a woman, one is a man, and both are from West Virginia, according to NBC News.
The suspect “came around the corner” and “immediately started firing a firearm at the two national guard members,” Jeffrey Carroll, an official with Washington’s metropolitan police department, said at a press conference.
Bystanders captured and circulated videos of what appeared to be police and national guard members subduing the suspect, and images of an officer appearing to administer CPR to a shooting victim.
National guard troops have been positioned across Washington since August, when the Trump administration declared a “crime emergency” and ordered them in to support federal and local law enforcement.
An estimated 2,375 national guard troops are currently activated in Washington. Trump said in his speech that he directed the rebranded “war department” to send an additional 500 guard members to Washington following the shooting.
US district judge Jia Cobb recently ruled Trump’s national guard deployment was likely unlawful and must be halted, but the order does not go into effect until next month. The Trump administration is appealing the ruling.
