Two National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., in 2021.

By Josh Lanier From Daily Voice

Two West Virginia National Guard troops remain in critical condition a day after they were shot just blocks from the White House. Authorities have identified the shooter as an Afghan native who previously worked with the CIA.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, is accused of ambushing troops on Wednesday, Nov. 26, as they stood guard outside the Farragut West Metro station, authorities said.

US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro on Thursday identified the victims as 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe. She said Lakanwal shot them with a .357 handgun after driving more than 2,700 miles from his home in Bellingham, Washington, according to CNN.

Pirro said that investigators are still piecing together a possible motive for the attack. 

Lakanwal will be charged with three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, Pirro said. 

President Donald Trump called the shooting an "act of terror" and blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, for allowing Lakanwal into the country as a refugee in 2021.

“We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden, and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here, or add benefit to our country,” Trump said in an address from Palm Beach, Florida. “If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them.”

Lakanwal applied for asylum in 2024, and the Trump administration approved his application earlier this year, the New York Times reported.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement hours after the shooting that Lakanwal had worked with agents and the military in Afghanistan. He fled when the US pulled out of the country as part of Operation Allies Welcome, the Times reported. 

“In the wake of the disastrous Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation,” Ratcliffe said. 

FBI Director Kash Patel told reporters on Thursday that agents were investigating whether his work in Afghanistan is connected to the shooting. 

Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., in September as part of an effort to address what he described as rising crime in the city. The president has asked for an additional 500 troops to join them in the nation’s capital following the shooting.