Authorities are holding an Afghan national in connection with the ambush shooting of two West Virginia National Guard members near the White House in Washington, DC.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal is being investigated as a possible terrorist suspect, according to a news release from the department.

The Nov. 26 attack a short distance from the White House left both the National Guard members in critical condition, according to FBI Director Kash Patel.

The suspect was shot moments after the attack and was hospitalized. He was described as a "lone gunman" by Jeffery Carroll, executive assistant chief of the Metropolitan Police Department. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser called the attack a "targeted shooting."

DC shooting suspect worked with U.S. military forces

Homeland Security said in its news release that Lakanwal entered the country through Operation Allies Welcome on September 8, 2021. The program was designed to allow Afghans who assisted the U.S. military and their families who were potential targets of retribution by the Taliban to enter the country after the United States pulled out.

The suspect worked with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, according to Patel.

“I also spoke to Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe last night and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. There is confirmation now that the subject had a relationship in Afghanistan with partner forces,” Patel said at a Nov. 27 news conference.

Ratcliffe told the New York Times that he was part of a CIA-backed Afghan “partner force” in the southern province of Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold during the two-decade war.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal entered US in 2021, officials say

President Donald Trump said in a speech from Palm Beach, Florida, that the Department of Homeland Security is confident that the suspect entered the U.S. in 2021.

Lakanwal came to the U.S. in 2021 on a special visa program for Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the Afghanistan war and were vulnerable to reprisals from the ruling Taliban after the U.S. withdrawal, the official told Reuters. But Lakanwal overstayed his visa and is in the country illegally, the official said.

Multiple news outlets have reported that Lakanwal did not overstay his visa, but instead was granted asylum by the Trump administration in April.

Lakanwal was living in Bellingham, Washington with a wife and five children.

"He drove his vehicle across country, from the state of Washington, with the intended target of coming to our nation's capital," Pirro said.

The attack occurred outside a subway station in the heart of the nation's capital and prompted the White House and other government buildings to lock down after the shooting. Trump said the suspect was an "animal" and would pay "a steep price" in a social media post.

What we know about DC shooting suspect

The suspect was subdued by other Guard members in the area, according to Carroll.

“They heard the gunfire, they actually were able to intervene and to kind of hold down the suspect after he had been shot on the ground until law enforcement got there within moments,” Carroll said.

He said that the suspect was shot during the interaction and transported to a local hospital for treatment.

“At this point, we have no other suspects,” Caroll said.

Patel said at a news conference that the FBI will work with the DC police, Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies on the investigation.

“We have assembled the full force of both the federal and state and local law enforcement agencies,” he said.

Trump says U.S. must re-examine ‘aliens’ from Afghanistan

Trump called Afghanistan “a hell-hole on Earth” and said that the suspect was “flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021.”

Trump repeatedly used anti-immigrant rhetoric and reiterated that the suspect in the shooting will pay the "steepest possible price." He also took swipes at Biden, calling him "a disastrous president, the worst in the history of our country."

Trump said that the U.S. must “re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden.”

"If they can't love our country we don't want them," Trump said.

Following Trump's statement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it was pausing all immigration applications from Afghan nationals.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Trump administration is deploying an additional 500 National Guard troops to Washington D.C. Nearly 2,200 National Guard troops are currently in Washington DC

Reporters Joey Garrison, Thao Nguyen, James Powel, Davis Winkie, Rebecca Morin and Zac Anderson contributed

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DC shooting suspect identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal. What we know.

Reporting by Sarah D. Wire, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect