Rahmanullah Lakanwal: The Afghan man who shot two U.S. National Guard members

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national, is suspected of having shot dead two U.S. National Guard members who were deployed just blocks away from the White House in a brazen act of violence that the Mayor described as a targeted attack.

The rare shooting of National Guard members, on the day before Thanksgiving, comes as the presence of the troops in the nation’s capital and other cities around the country has been a flashpoint issue for months, fuelling court fights and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration’s use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the suspect in custody, also was shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

The 29-year-old suspect, an Afghan national, entered the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration programme that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country, officials said.

The initiative brought roughly 76,000 people to the U.S., many of whom had worked alongside U.S. troops and diplomats as interpreters and translators. It has since faced intense scrutiny from Mr. Trump and his allies, congressional Republicans and some government watchdogs over gaps in the vetting process and the speed of admissions, even as advocates say it offered a lifeline to people at risk of Taliban reprisals.

Authorities working to confirm suspect’s background

Rahmanullah Lakanwal has been living in Washington State. Although law enforcement officials have identified him, authorities are still working to fully confirm his background, according to two law enforcement officials and a person familiar with the matter. These individuals could not discuss details of an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

Lakanwal arrived in Bellingham, Washington, about 79 miles (127.1 kilometres) north of Seattle, with his wife and five children, said his former landlord Kristina Widman.

Wednesday (November 26) night, in a video message released on social media, President Donald Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who entered under the Biden administration. “If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them,” he said, adding that the shooting was “a crime against our entire nation.”

Jeffery Carroll, an Executive Assistant DC police chief, said investigators had no information on a motive. He said the assailant “came around the corner” and immediately started firing at the troops, citing video reviewed by investigators.