A National Guard soldier secures the area with crime scene tape after a shooting in downtown Washington on Wednesday.DREW ANGERER/AFP/Getty Images
Two national guardsmen are in critical condition and a wounded suspect is in custody after what officials said was a targeted shooting near the White House, prompting U.S. President Donald Trump to order 500 more troops to Washington and promise to expand his crackdown on immigration.
A man walked around a corner, raised a gun and opened fire around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to local police, shooting two members of the West Virginia National Guard outside an entrance to the Farragut West metro station. The suspect was also shot, though it was not immediately clear by whom.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the suspect is an Afghan national who came to the U.S. as part of Operation Allies Welcome on Sept. 8, 2021. The program allowed Afghans who had worked with American forces in Afghanistan to come to the U.S. following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country and the Taliban takeover.
U.S. media, citing unnamed law-enforcement sources, identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, and said he had been living in Bellingham, Wash. The Reuters news agency reported that the attack was being investigated as a potential act of terrorism.
Reuters
In a video address from Palm Beach, Fla., where he is spending the Thanksgiving holiday, Mr. Trump said he would clamp down on Afghan refugees.
“This attack underscores the single greatest national security threat facing our nation,” the President said, accusing former president Joe Biden of letting in “unknown and unvetted foreigners” from “places that you don’t want to even know about.”
Mr. Trump said the U.S. government would now “re-examine every single alien” who entered the U.S. from Afghanistan under Mr. Biden’s administration. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it had suspended all immigration applications from Afghan nationals.
The wounded guardsmen were part of a wave of troop and federal police deployments by Mr. Trump across several U.S. cities, aimed at clamping down on crime, clearing homeless encampments and supporting efforts to round up undocumented immigrants for deportation.
The attack unfolded about two blocks from the White House. Mr. Trump and other top officials were away at the time.
CNN, citing police sources, reported that the suspect received U.S. asylum this year, during Mr. Trump’s presidency. A relative of Mr. Lakanwal’s told NBC that he served in the Afghan army for 10 years, including in Kandahar, and helped U.S. special forces. NBC, citing law enforcement sources, said the weapon used in the shooting was a handgun.
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey initially said the two guardsmen had died before correcting himself, saying that he was hearing conflicting reports. Police later said both guardsmen are still alive but in critical condition.
“This is a targeted shooting. One individual who appeared to target these guardsmen,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said at the scene.
Jeffrey Carroll, executive assistant chief of the city’s Metropolitan Police Department, said the motive for the shooting was still under investigation and that there is currently only one suspect. He said the guards who were shot were armed at the time.
Other guards held the suspect down after the shooting until he could be arrested by police, Mr. Carroll said. He said it was not yet known what type of gun the suspect used.
“This is a matter of national security. This is a matter of pride,” FBI director Kash Patel said.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said he had started the process of sending 500 more national guards to Washington on Mr. Trump’s orders. “This will only stiffen our resolve. We will never back down. We will secure our capital, we will secure our cities,” he told reporters outside the Pentagon.
There are currently 2,000 national guards deployed to the city. Mr. Trump sent the troops in August, along with officers from several federal agencies. He also temporarily took control of the Metropolitan Police.
National Guard patrol on the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.Rahmat Gul/The Associated Press
The crackdown has targeted undocumented immigrants, homeless encampments and street crime. It has entailed setting up checkpoints on busy streets and conducting spot patrols in bar districts. While police have taken the lead on most of these operations, guardsmen have at times been deployed to help them and also serve as sentinels at monuments and metro stations, and to clean up trash on the National Mall.
Mr. Trump has previously taken action against Afghan refugees by ending a temporary protected status program this past summer as part of a broader push to strip some groups of immigrants of the legal ability to stay in the U.S.
In his address on Wednesday, the President also directed unrelated criticism at Somali refugees in Minnesota, accusing them of “ripping off our country” and “ripping apart” the state.
Mr. Trump’s deployment of troops to Washington – as well as other major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland and Memphis – has drawn protests and lawsuits. Critics charge that it violates local autonomy and unnecessarily militarizes cities and law enforcement. They also accuse Mr. Trump of setting the stage for crackdowns on protests by normalizing the presence of troops in the streets.
A federal judge last week ruled that sending the National Guard into Washington was illegal because Mr. Trump does not have the power to take such a step unilaterally. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb suspended her ruling from taking effect until Dec. 11 to give the government time to appeal.
West Virginia deployed 300 National Guardsmen to Washington in August. Of those, 160 extended their deployment until the end of the year.
Two members of the National Guard were shot in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday near the White House, putting the building into lockdown with President Donald Trump away in Florida.
Reuters
While Washington saw a spike in homicides after the height of COVID-19 lockdowns, violent crime plummeted to a 30-year low in 2024. And a daylight shooting at Farragut – a busy part of the city’s central business district, heavily trafficked by tourists and office workers, and dominated by a large public square – came as a shock.
Bystander Mike Jones described the immediate aftermath of the shooting as “bedlam.” He said people coming out of the metro witnessed the gunfire and crowds rushed away from the scene. Nearby businesses were locked down.
“I haven’t seen this kind of thing. It’s unnerving,” said Mr. Jones, who works in the area. “It’s a product of our current time, and we have to find a way to get past this, find a way for everyone to work together.”
He said it was particularly tragic happening on the eve of one of the U.S.’s most important holidays. “Two families are going to have to deal with this tomorrow. This shouldn’t be the conversation happening around the table.”
Even before Mr. Trump’s National Guard deployment, the area around the White House was heavily secured by several police agencies. The building itself is surrounded by a 3.6-metre wrought iron fence and the Secret Service, which protects the President and other officials, often closes off the adjacent street.
In addition to the Secret Service and Metropolitan Police, U.S. Park Police are deployed at the nearby National Mall.