WASHINGTON, D.C. – A man who allegedly attacked two National Guard soldiers in the U.S. capital has been charged with murder after one of the victims died from his wounds.
The latest charges were announced Friday by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro in Washington, D.C.
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They came two days after 29-year-old Afghan man Rahmanullah Rakanwal shot and killed West Virginia National Guardsmen Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolf, 24, just blocks from the White House.
Late Thursday, President Donald Trump announced that Beckström, who had been sent to the nation’s capital as part of the president’s anti-crime mission, had died from his injuries.
Pirro made the announcement on Fox & Friends a day after he said Lakhanwal, a Washington resident, would be charged with three counts of assault while armed with intent to kill and three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.
“He will be charged with first-degree murder,” Lakhanwal said Friday.
“Certainly there will be more charges down the road, but we are upgrading the original charge from assault to first-degree murder.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi previously said she would seek the death penalty if any of the soldiers were killed in the attack. The FBI announced that it was investigating the attack as “terrorism.”
As of Friday, Wolf, a National Guard soldier, remained in critical condition.
“Collective punishment”
The increased charges come shortly after the Trump administration vowed to crack down broadly on immigration in the wake of the incident and to respect immigrants already in the United States.
Advocacy groups denounced the action as “collective punishment.”
In a social media post Thursday night, President Trump said he was “permanently suspending immigration from all third world countries,” expanding on previous action to suspend all immigration applications related to Afghan nationals.
President Trump also promised to “remove anyone who is not a net asset to America or incapable of loving our country.”
The administration had already announced it would review refugees and asylum seekers admitted to the United States under former President Joe Biden, and the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Thursday that it would conduct a “full-scale, rigorous review of all green cards for all aliens from all countries of concern.”
The policy change comes after more details about the alleged attacker, Lakhanwal, emerged.
Trump administration officials have repeatedly blamed the shootings on lax vetting policies during Biden’s Operation Welcome Afghanistan, which brought tens of thousands of Afghans to the United States as Western troops withdrew.
US media reported that Lakhanwal was part of an Afghan military unit known as “Team Zero” that worked with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Afghanistan.
A friend told The New York Times that Lakhanwal had been suffering from mental health issues related to the actions of the unit. Human Rights Watch says the acts include extrajudicial killings and killings of civilians.
Lakanawal applied for asylum in December 2024, according to a government report seen by Reuters.
But the case was approved in April, a few months into President Trump’s second term, with officials pointing to cooperation with the United States in Afghanistan. At that time, no disqualifying information was found.
Advocates say the Trump administration is using the attack to further ramp up its crackdown on immigration.
Critics say the crackdown targets vulnerable people, including legal immigrants and refugees who have sought refuge from persecution.
In response to Thursday’s ban on Afghan immigration processing, the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said, “Collective punishment is never justified.”
“People fleeing violence, persecution and instability deserve protection and due process. They should not be vilified by the alleged actions of one person,” the group said.
The Afghan American Foundation called on elected leaders and the media to respond responsibly.
“We will follow the facts, resist fear and ensure this tragedy is not used to divide our communities or tear the bonds that unite us,” the group said in a statement.
