Washington DC shooting: A US National Guard soldier has died after a shooting near the White House, while another remains critical. The suspected Afghan shooter is in custody and under a terrorism investigation.
One of the two US National Guard soldiers shot by a suspected Afghan immigrant has died of her injuries, US President Donald Trump said. The National Guard member Specialist Sarah Beckstrom was shot near the White House in Washington DC on Wednesday along with Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe.
‘We don’t want them’: Trump on ‘unwanted’ immigrants
The alleged shooter, 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is now in custody. Lakanwal purportedly entered the US in 2021 and is now being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on “act of terrorism” charge.
Showing a picture of a plane crammed with, whom he called immigrants, Trump said only the “toughest and meanest” people came to America and not those that “the US wanted”. He called the situation “total bedlam” and blamed his predecessor Joe Biden for it.
Trump further said: “The suspect is an Afghan national flown here by the previous Administration… We have no greater national security priority than ensuring that we have full control over the people that enter and remain in our country. For the most part, we don’t want them.”
Following Saraha Beckstrom’s death, New York mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani said: “I’m devastated to learn of the passing of Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, a member of the West Virginia National Guard. She was only twenty years old. As families across the nation come together today to celebrate Thanksgiving, let us take a moment to think of those in West Virginia who have been plunged into unimaginable grief.”
