The suspected gunman in the shooting of two national guard members on Wednesday near the White House has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan man, according to law enforcement officials.
Lakanwal, 29, is said to have entered the United States in September 2021, and been living in Washington state, law enforcement officials told the Associated Press and other outlets.
The suspect, who is now in custody, was also shot and has injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening, according to a law enforcement official not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
Lakanwal was paroled into the United States through the Operation Allies Welcome program, which the Biden administration initiated to resettle people during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan after the two-decade war, the New York Times reported. Immigration authorities granted Lakanwal asylum earlier this year, according to CNN.
Speaking from Palm Beach, Florida, Donald Trump said the shooter was from Afghanistan and called the shooting “an act of terror”.
“I can report tonight that based on the best available information, the Department of Homeland Security is confident that the suspect in custody is a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan, a hellhole on Earth,” the president said in a brief video address.
“He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021, on those infamous flights that everybody was talking about.”
Trump’s statement did not acknowledge the vetting effort carried out by US military, intelligence and immigration agents.
The shooting took place near the Farragut West metro station in the capital city. The two national guard members were shot with a handgun and were in critical condition.
Authorities did not immediately release their names. One of the shooting victims is a woman, one is a man, and both are from West Virginia, according to NBC News.
Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington, called the attack “a targeted shooting”.
The suspect “came around the corner” and “immediately started firing a firearm at the two national guard members,” Jeffrey Carroll, an official with Washington’s metropolitan police department, said at a press conference.
Bystanders captured and circulated videos of what appeared to be police and national guard members subduing the suspect, and images of an officer appearing to administer CPR to a shooting victim.
National guard troops have been positioned across Washington since August, when the Trump administration declared a “crime emergency” and ordered them in to support federal and local law enforcement. An estimated 2,375 national guard troops are currently activated in Washington.
