National Guard soldier dies from injuries after Capitol terror attack

West Virginia National Guard soldier Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, has died from the gunshot wounds she suffered during Wednesday’s ambush near the White House, President Donald Trump announced during a Thanksgiving night address.

Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, were both shot, Beckstrom in the head and chest area, during a daylight attack near the Farragut West Metro station, two blocks from the White House, where they were assigned to a public-safety deployment in the nation’s capital.

Her father, Gary Beckstrom, had said earlier Thursday that his daughter’s injuries were not survivable. He told the New York Times that her chances of recovery were “slim” after the bullets struck her head and chest, and said he was holding her hand as she neared death.

Beckstrom joined the West Virginia National Guard in June 2023 and deployed to Washington, DC in August as part of the Trump administration’s crime-reduction mission in the District. Wolfe, who was wounded alongside her, continues to fight for his life at a Washington hospital.

Further details emerged Thanksgiving Day about the alleged gunman, identified as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who entered the United States on Sept. 8, 2021, under Operation Allies Welcome, the Biden-era humanitarian parole program that resettled more than 80,000 Afghans following the disastrous US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Lakanwal, a former Afghan Army soldier who had assisted US forces in Kandahar, was granted asylum earlier this year and had been living in Bellingham, Wash., with his wife and five children.

Authorities say Lakanwal drove roughly 2,500 miles across the country from Washington state to Washington, DC, where he allegedly carried out the ambush around 2:15 pm Wednesday. Officials said he targeted the Guardsmen without warning, firing a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver before being stabbed and shot by responding personnel and taken into custody. Federal investigators executed a search warrant overnight at his Bellingham residence, seizing electronics as part of what authorities described as a coast-to-coast investigation.

No motive has been publicly disclosed. President Trump said the attack was “an act of evil” and called Beckstrom a “magnificent” young woman who served her country with honor. Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Jeff Carroll said the suspect appears to have acted alone.

The shooting prompted immediate national-security repercussions. On Wednesday evening, the Department of Homeland Security ordered an indefinite halt to all immigration processing for Afghan nationals, including visas, asylum cases, and resettlement applications, pending a comprehensive review of vetting procedures. US Citizenship and Immigration Services stated the move was made to ensure the safety of the American public.

As of Thursday night, Wolfe remains in critical condition as the investigation into the ambush widens across multiple states.