By Julia Harte and Lucia Mutikani
-From battlefields in Afghanistan to a scenic home in the Pacific Northwest, Rahmanullah Lakanwal had followed a promising path before Wednesday, when U.S. authorities say he shot two National Guard soldiers blocks from the White House.
Lakanwal, 29, drove across the country from his home in the state of Washington, said Jeanine Pirro, U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., at a news conference on Thursday. He lived in Bellingham, a coastal city near Canada’s border, with his wife and five children.
Pirro said he ambushed the two National Guardsmen on Wednesday as they patrolled near the White House. Armed with a powerful handgun, a .357 Magnum, he shot one Guardsman who fell, and then shot them again, before firing multiple times at the second Guardsman, Pirro added.
Lakanwal was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with other Guardsmen before he was arrested and taken to hospital, where he remains under heavy guard. The authorities have not given an update on his condition or a motive for the attack.
Pirro said Lakanwal faces three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and a charge of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.
He will also be charged with murder in the first degree if the Guardsmen, who are currently in critical condition, do not survive their injuries, she said.
Earlier on Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News the U.S. government plans to bring terrorism charges against Lakanwal and seek a sentence of life in prison “at a minimum.”
Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era immigration program to resettle thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. during the war and feared reprisal from Taliban forces who seized control after the U.S. withdrawal. More than 70,000 Afghans have been resettled in the U.S. under the program.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have confirmed that he worked with U.S. partner forces in Afghanistan, according to FBI Director Kash Patel.
Pirro and Patel blamed the Biden administration for improperly vetting Lakanwal, although they offered no evidence to support their assertion.
According to a federal law enforcement dossier seen by Reuters, Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved on April 23, three months after Trump took office.
Lakanwal had no known criminal history, according to the dossier. He had no documented record of traveling in or out of the U.S. since his arrival in 2021, and he had imported a shipment of household goods from Afghanistan in February.
After working through Wednesday night, investigators seized cellphones, laptops, iPads, and other electronic devices from his house in Washington state, according to Patel.
(Reporting by Julia Harte and Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Nia Williams)
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