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The man suspected of shooting two National Guard soldiers in Washington DC on Wednesday is expected to survive his injuries. One of the two soldiers has already died, and the second is still in a critical condition in hospital.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national, was arrested after he apparently travelled from his home in Washington State to the capital and shot two West Virginia Guardsmen who were on patrol. Lakanwal was shot and apprehended.
A law-enforcement officer spoke to The New York Post and said he is expected to recover, having undergone surgery hours after the attack took place.
“I think the guy’s going to live. Nobody’s going to be able to say anything and he’s going to stand trial,” the officer said.
“I know that he underwent surgery the night it happened.”
Specialist Sarah Bergstrom, 20, died of her injuries on Thanksgiving.
The second Guardsman, Andrew Wolfe, is still “fighting for his life,” according to West Virginia Governor Patrick James Morrisey.
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,” District of Columbia Attorney General Jeanine Pirro told Fox News on Friday.
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.
