A National Guard member died on Thursday after being shot near the White House in an ambush that investigators say was carried out by an Afghan national, an attack President Donald Trump blamed on Biden-era immigration vetting failures.
Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died of her wounds and her fellow Guardsman Andrew Wolfe, 24, was "fighting for his life," Trump said, as investigators conducted what officials said was a terrorism probe after Wednesday's shooting.
The FBI searched multiple properties in a widening investigation, including a home in Washington state linked to the suspect, who officials said was part of a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan before coming to the U.S. in 2021 under a resettlement program.
Agents seized numerous electronic devices from the residence of the suspect, identified as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, including cellphones, laptops, and iPads, and interviewed his relatives, FBI Director Kash Patel told a news conference.
U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. Jeanine Pirro said the suspect drove cross-country and then ambushed the Guard members while they were patrolling near the White House on Wednesday afternoon.
"I want to express the anguish and the horror of our entire nation that the terrorist attack yesterday in our nation's capital, in which a savage monster gunned down two service members in the West Virginia National Guard.
Casting blame on the administration of his White House predecessor, President Joe Biden, Trump said the alleged gunman, who he described as having gone "cuckoo," was among thousands of Afghans who came in unvetted as the U.S. carried out a chaotic withdrawal in 2021.
Trump said the suspect's "atrocity reminds us that we have no greater national security priority than ensuring that we have full control over the people that enter and remain in our country."
The alleged assailant, who lived in Washington state with his wife and five children, appeared to have acted alone, said Jeff Carroll, executive assistant chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.
Asked whether he was planning to deport the suspect's wife and five children who live in Washington state, Trump said, "We're looking at the whole situation with family."
The program under which the suspect entered the U.S., which allowed in more than 70,000 Afghan nationals, according to a congressional report, was designed with vetting procedures, including by U.S. counter-terrorism and intelligence agencies.
But the large scale and rushed nature of the evacuations led critics to say the background checks were inefficient.
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The U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. Jeanine Pirro has identified the injured Guardsmen as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, and said they were still in critical condition following surgeries
Two National Guard soldiers were shot and critically wounded on Wednesday in downtown Washington near the White House in what officials described as a targeted ambush.
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