Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, drove his car for 42 hours from coast to coast across the United States with the intention of carrying out an attack. He traveled the nearly 4,500 kilometers (2,700 miles) between Bellingham, the city where he lived with his wife and five children, north of Seattle, and Washington, D.C., carrying a.357 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver with six rounds in the chamber. Lakanwal is the man arrested by police after shooting and seriously wounding two members of the West Virginia National Guard on Wednesday afternoon near the busy Farragut West Metro station, close to the White House. Lakanwal has been charged with possession of a firearm and faces three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed.

Authorities believe Lakanwal, who acted alone, traveled with a plan in mind to launch the attack. It was Thanksgiving Eve, the nation's most popular holiday. The capital was bustling, with thousands of Americans preparing for last-minute shopping. At 2:15 p.m., the suspect crossed the corner of 17th and I Streets, an area frequented by tourists and federal officials, given its proximity to the White House. He encountered a group of National Guard troops, part of the troop deployment ordered by Donald Trump to combat what he considers the capital's"crime emergency." Upon seeing the soldiers, Lakanwal opened fire: one soldier was shot and fell to the ground. The assailant bent down to fire again at the fallen soldier. He then turned to wound another member of the military before being apprehended after an exchange of gunfire with other guardsmen in which he was wounded.

Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, are the two National Guard volunteers who were wounded in the shooting. They are in critical condition at the hospital, and although they have undergone surgery, their condition remains serious, according to a statement made by the District of Columbia's Attorney General, Jeanine Pirro, at a press conference alongside FBI Director Kash Patel.

“Two uniformed guards were ambushed in a brazen and targeted attack. A lone gunman opened fire without provocation, ambush-style,” described Pirro, who has not provided details about the motives for the close-range attack against the National Guard members. “It’s too early,” the prosecutor told reporters. “We are investigating different areas, but we are not ready to confirm anything,” she added. Pirro noted that the shooting has been considered a “targeted attack.” Patel described the case as an “ongoing terrorism investigation,” without elaborating.

Lakanwal was a CIA collaborator during the fight against the Taliban, according to authorities. CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed that the detainee worked with an allied military unit in Kandahar during the US war in Afghanistan. Ratcliffe did not specify Lakanwal's role during that period.

Sources cited by The New York Times explain that the detainee served in Kandahar with Unit Zero, companies of the Afghan intelligence service. These were paramilitary forces trained to carry out night raids against suspected Taliban targets. They were known as death squads for their cruel and ruthless methods and have been accused of widespread killings of civilians by human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch.

The American newspaper reports that a childhood friend of the detainee revealed he suffered from mental health problems and was traumatized by the operations he participated in in Afghanistan. The friend insists he was unstable and frequently smoked marijuana.

Lakanwal arrived in the United States in 2021 after the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Kabul. The Biden administration had launched a project to prevent Afghans who had served with the army from falling into the hands of the Taliban. The resettlement program, known as Operation Welcome Allies, allowed the repatriation of approximately 76,000 Afghans to the United States for humanitarian reasons, according to The New York Times. Nearly a thousand refugees were transferred to Whatcom County, in the northwest of the country, near Bellingham. World Relief, a humanitarian organization that assists refugees during their first 90 days in the United States, is headquartered there.

Terrorism charges

Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed in a Fox News interview Thursday that the Justice Department intends to charge Lakanwal with terrorism offenses, which could carry a potential life sentence. The Attorney General explained that the charges will depend on whether any of the victims die from their gunshot wounds. “We will do everything we can to seek the death penalty,” she said.

FBI Director Kash Patel explained that the agency has interviewed several witnesses and is investigating multiple locations in the capital and along the West Coast. “During the searches, we seized numerous electronic devices, including cell phones, laptops, iPads, and other materials that are currently being analyzed,” he said.

Trump made an extraordinary appearance Wednesday night to address the attack. From his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, he delivered a xenophobic speech blaming his predecessor, Biden, for the tragedy, criminalizing immigrants and blatantly exaggerating the number of refugees who entered the country during the Democrat's presidency."We must now re-screen every single alien who came into our country from Afghanistan," he declared.

“The animal who shot the two National Guardsmen, both seriously wounded and now in separate hospitals, is also seriously wounded, but, despite everything, will pay a very high price,” the president wrote on his social media account, Truth, just before news of the incident broke. “God bless our Great National Guard and all of our Armed Forces and Law Enforcement. They are truly extraordinary people.”

In response to the shooting, the US president ordered the deployment of another 500 National Guard troops to Washington on Wednesday. Some 2,300 troops have been stationed in the capital since last summer under an executive order issued by Trump, justified by the need to combat the city's high crime rates, despite the fact that crime figures are the lowest in 30 years. National Guard members are also participating in raids targeting immigrants.

The presence of the National Guard in some cities governed by Democrats has become a matter of national politics. The opposition sees it as an exercise in intimidation and abuse of power, because in theory the soldiers have no jurisdiction in the cities. Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser expressed her rejection of the deployment of the uniformed personnel. “These young men should be at home, in West Virginia, with their families,” she declared.

Last week, Jia Cobb, a federal judge in Washington, ruled that the Trump administration could not maintain the deployment of the National Guard in Washington, after the local government challenged the president's order in court. Cobb suspended her ruling for three weeks to give the White House time to withdraw the troops and appeal the decision. Following Wednesday's tragic events, the administration asked Cobb to reverse her decision.