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Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan national arrested for shooting two National Guard soldiers in Washington DC, will be charged with first-degree murder after one of the soldiers died.
Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe were shot on Wednesday by Lakanwal. On Thursday, President Trump confirmed that Beckstrom had died of her wounds. Wolfe remains in a critical condition in hospital.
US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro confirmed the upgraded charge on Friday.
As well as a first-degree murder charge, Lakanwal faces two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, and three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.
“There are certainly many more charges to come, but we are upgrading the initial charges of assault to murder in the first degree,” Pirro told Fox News.
The President and FBI Director Kash Patel have described the shootings as a terrorist attack.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has said the Department of Justice will seek the death penalty for Lakanwal.
In the wake of the shooting, President Trump Trump vowed to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions, including those signed by Sleepy Joe Biden’s Autopen, and remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country, end all Federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens of our Country, denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization.”
“Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation,” Trump added.
Lakanwal was one of around 80,000 Afghans who were resettled in the US after President Biden’s withdrawal from the country in 2021.
“This program let in thousands of unvetted Afghan nationals including terrorists into our country,” Homeland Security said in a statement.
