US National Guard member targeted in DC shooting dies from injuries
US Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, one of the two West Virginia National Guard members critically wounded in Wednesday’s shooting in Washington, DC, has died of her injuries, President Donald Trump has announced.
Trump said on Thursday evening, “She’s no longer with us. She’s looking down at us right now. Her parents are with her,” praising Beckstrom as a “highly respected, young, magnificent person.”
The president added that US Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe is “fighting for his life” in the hospital.
A gunman shot Beckstrom and Wolfe at close range while they were patrolling the streets just blocks from the White House. The suspect, who was wounded in a firefight with other guardsmen, was taken into custody.
A new video of the attack emerged earlier on Thursday.
The Department of Homeland Security identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who entered the country under a special program created in 2021 to evacuate vulnerable Afghans after the Taliban’s recapture of Kabul.
Trump has blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, for allowing Lakanwal into the US and has ordered the immediate suspension of immigration requests from Afghanistan.
