LIVE UPDATES: Suspect of Shooting National Guardsmen Passed Background Checks
The two guardsmen remain in critical condition.
I will update this post with news about the shooting of two National Guardsmen.
They are Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, from West Virginia.
We know the suspect is an Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who worked with the U.S. in the country.
Lakanwal came to the U.S. under “Operation Allies Welcome” during the Biden administration, following the disastrous withdrawal.
DOJ IG Found Nothing Wrong With Afghan Vetting Process
The DOJ inspector general (IG) issued a report about the Afghan refugee vetting system in June.
What did the office find? “No systemic failures.” From Fox News:
A fact sheet published by #AfghanEvac, an umbrella group of nonprofits that helped settle Afghan refugees after the withdrawal, noted the independent federal review confirmed vetting worked as designed.
The OIG’s comprehensive report reviewed the vetting, screening, and admission processes used during and after the Afghanistan evacuation, finding U.S. agencies followed required procedures, including FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, State Department and intelligence community components.
“Biometric and biographic screening worked as intended, including fingerprints, iris scans, facial recognition, and watchlist checks,” according to the report. “Information-sharing was effective, and where data gaps existed, agencies used all available tools consistent with U.S. law and policy.”
#AfghanEvac added post-arrival continuous vetting has remained in place, ensuring ongoing monitoring of national security information.
Honestly, we need to concentrate on Lakanwal. Something happened between the time he came here to Wednesday.
Lakanwal Worked With Elite CIA Counterterrorism Unit
Lakanwal worked with NDS-03, an elite CIA counterterrorism unit.
The unit works directly with “U.S. intelligence and military support.” More from Fox News:
Lakanwal’s unit operated in Afghanistan’s southern region — in Kandahar, Helmand and Uruzgan — out of the former compound of the late Taliban leader Mullah Omar, commonly referred to as “Mullah Omar’s house” and by U.S. forces as “Camp Gecko.”
NDS-03 was one of about five paramilitary groups working with the CIA. They were commonly called “Zero Units” due to the numbers following their National Directorate of Security (NDS) or Afghan intelligence service designation.
The Afghan members of the units were highly vetted and trained by the CIA and carried out some of the toughest counterterrorism missions against the Taliban, Al Qaeda and others. They were very trusted and brave, according to those who worked with them.
The CIA does its own vetting “through a variety of databases, including the National Counterterrorism Center database.” That helps locate any known ties to terrorist groups.
Lakanwal’s Background Check was “Clean on All Checks”
Officials said that Lakanwal’s background check came back clean:
The suspect in Wednesday’s shooting of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital was “clean on all checks” in a 2021 background check before he came to the U.S., a senior U.S. official told Fox News.
29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal entered the U.S. through former President Joe Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome in 2021 during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. During that transition, officials say Lakanwal would have undergone a vetting check by the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC).
“In terms of vetting, nothing came up,” the official said. “He was clean on all checks.”
Here’s the other thing. The official who spoke to Fox News said that America continues “an annual vetting process for Afghan evacuees even after they arrived in the U.S., an effort that was redoubled after a foiled terror plot in Oklahoma last year that was linked to another Afghan national.”
This does not look good for anyone.
Beckstrom’s Father Doesn’t Think She Will Survive
Gary Beckstrom, the father of Sarah Beckstrom, says his daughter has a mortal wound:
The father of Sarah Beckstrom, one of the wounded National Guard members, said his daughter was unlikely to recover. “I’m holding her hand right now,” Gary Beckstrom said when reached by phone. “She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery.” He declined to talk further. Beckstrom and the other wounded Guard soldier, Andrew Wolfe, are in critical condition, officials have said.
Trump Demands Review of Biden Asylum Cases
The Trump administration has started reviewing all asylum cases under the Biden administration.
However, remember, as stated below, the Trump administration gave Lakanwal asylum in April.
From The New York Times:
Biden administration officials insisted then that Afghan nationals who came through the program had been properly vetted and screened, though an inspector general report later found significant flaws in the process.
“The screening and vetting process involves biometric and biographic screenings conducted by intelligence, law enforcement, and counterterrorism professionals,” the agency said in a statement in September 2021, days after the evacuation of Americans and allies as the Taliban took control.
Homeland Security Department officials said that people who failed the checks would not be allowed to fly into the United States and that if Afghans who had already arrived and received further checks had any concerning information they could be turned back.
FBI Searches Properties, Seizes Electronics
Reuters reported that the FBI started searching properties associated with Lakanwal in San Diego, CA, and Washington state:
The FBI searched multiple properties in Washington state and San Diego on Thursday in what officials said was a terrorism probe into an Afghan national suspected of shooting two National Guard members, who remained in critical condition in hospital.
Investigators seized numerous electronic devices from the suspect’s house in Washington state, including cellphones, laptops, and iPads, FBI director Kash Patel told a news conference in Washington, D.C.
CIA Vetted Laknanwal
Sources told Fox News that the CIA vetted the suspect in Afghanistan:
The suspect in Wednesday’s shooting of National Guard members in Washington, D.C., was vetted by the CIA in Afghanistan and was granted final asylum approval under President Donald Trump’s administration, multiple sources told Fox News Digital.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed earlier Wednesday that the alleged shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, worked for the CIA in Afghanistan out of a base in Kandahar. Multiple sources tell Fox that prior to that work, Lakanwal was vetted by the National Counterterrorism Center.
During the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the CIA and U.S. military airlifted many so-called Afghan allies out of the country. Priority was given to those who had badges and a history of working with the CIA, such as Lakanwal.
While further vetting took place for most Afghans who were airlifted out, sources say having a CIA badge would have placed Lakanwal in the “vetted” category. Sources said there was nothing in Lakanwal’s history to suggest he had links to terrorism prior to his entry to the U.S. in September 2021.
Lakanwal applied for asylum in 2024 and reportedly received approval in April, under President Donald Trump’s administration.
Suspect Faces Two Charges
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told the media that she will charge Lakanwal with three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.
Pirro also said that if the guardsmen die, she will pursue the death penalty.
🚨 BREAKING: US Attorney Jeanine Pirro announces CRIMINAL CHARGES against the Afghan shooter – confirms the DEATH PENALTY will be sought if one or both of the Guardsmen die from their injuries.
"Make no mistake. If they do not survive, that will certainly be the charge. MURDER… pic.twitter.com/qA3d7bT6IS
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 27, 2025
Pirro Identifies Guardsmen
Pirro identified the two guardsmen who were only sworn in a day before the shooting: Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, from West Virginia.
Both remain in critical condition.
BREAKING: Jeanine Pirro has identified the two National Guardsmen shot by an Afghan in DC as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24 of West Virginia pic.twitter.com/BLblH0WLnX
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 27, 2025
[Featured image via YouTube]
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Comments
Let us hope that capital punishment is not needed.
Too bad you didn’t mention that concept to Rahmanullah Lakanwal before he executed Sarah Beckman.
More of the Biden autopen’s failure to vet…
Mostly thankful Backstrom and Wolfe are still alive. Read Backstrom was shot twice, 1 in the head so that will be a long fight for life I would think.
Capital punishment should be on the table for firing a gun at a military member.
If the Left ever regains power, a pardon for the shooter is going to be almost instantaneous.
Subotai Bahadur
Vetted by the CIA!
The guys who said Saddam had weapons of Mass Destruction and said the Biden Laptop was a hoax. That CIA.
The CIA has been a Democrat party operation since its founding. Its predecessor the OSS was called “oh so social” as many of its cadre were wealthy elites from Ivy League universities.
Not defending the CIA but it was a FACT that Saddam had WMD. The problem was that Saddam kicked UN inspectors out of Iraq and then claimed that he had destroyed his WMD, but didn’t keep any records of it and no proof of the destruction. Only an idiot would have given Saddam the benefit of the doubt on that.
Further, it happened that Gulf War II did actually expose more WMDs (and more dangerous WMDs) than anyone had ever imagined. THey just weren’t in Iraq. But it was ONLY because of the attack on Iraq that Q’Daffy was scared sh*tless and puked up his entire nuke program, which exposed the real WMD danger – the AQ Khan network – which was then shut down.
Gulf War II served to take the most dangerous WMD operations in the world out – operations that we were massively unaware of. WIthout Gulf War II and that destruction of the AQ Khan network the world would be a very, very different place right now. A very dark, dangerous, different place.
The other National Guardsmen should have killed him.
But, but…!
Death penalty predicated on death of one of the guardsmen? Nuts. Should be on table now. Murder is discounted. After one murder, every next murder is “free”. Time to put this animal down. Trial on Monday, death penalty given on Tuesday, hanging on Wednesday….fed to the pigs on Thursday..
It is insane that a person who injures another with the intent of killing them is spared the death penalty only because of super-human efforts of numerous medical professionals over hours, days, even weeks, prevents that intended death. Nothing the perpetrator did before of after had any control of the fact the victim did not die. Any injury that requires substantial, immediate life-saving efforts should qualify one for the death penalty.
If a person attempts to murder someone, there’s no good reason why that person shouldn’t be treated as a murderer simply for having failed in the attempt. “Guilt” is as much about state of mind as it is about having actually committed the physical act of a crime. A person who intends to murder another had the state of mind of a murderer, and should be treated that way by the law, not given a pass (to a lower charge).
This story makes no sense. If he was vetted by the CIA in Afghanistan and worked with the USA, he wouldn’t have had to apply for asylum because he would have been under the SIV program and granted a green card when he arrived here just like every other Afghan who worked for the USA and was vetted. So if he didn’t qualify for that program, who was the CIA employee who vetted him, what did he do for the USA and on what grounds was he approved?
Another possibility: Extortion. “Do this and your parents get to live.”
X post tells both have died. 😔🙏
Earlier this year another Afghan “ally” tried to kill police in Fairfax, VA, after ranting about how he should have worked for the Taliban.
Why would this animal go all the way from Washington state to DC to shoot national guardsmen? If he had wanted to kill National Guardsmen he could have just gone to Portland or Chicago – both much, much closer than DC.
So, the Seditious Six make a treasonous video implying that CiC orders are unlawful – hence deployments are unlawful – and days later some jihadi nut who was trained by and worked for the CIA goes all the way from Washington state, bypassing National guard deployments close to him, to make his way all across the nation to DC for the expressed purpose of assassinating national guardsmen.
Jack Ruby has entered the chat.
“ Why would this animal go all the way from Washington state to DC to shoot national guardsmen?”
It doesn’t pass the smell test.
One obvious conclusion for those noting that the killer was “vetted.”
It would seem that “vetting” is valueless except perhaps from Europe or Japan. I am pretty confident, after having lived in Panama for several years, that in almost any third-world country $100 will make any criminal or political affiliation records disappear.
I agree with Trump’s decision to review all green cards from those 19 countries