Afghan man pleads not guilty in US National Guard shooting
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Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, entered the plea by video feed from a hospital bed, US media reported.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Washington - An Afghan man accused of shooting two members of the National Guard
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who was injured during the November attack, entered the plea by video feed from a hospital bed, US media reported.
Lakanwal is charged with first-degree murder
Mr Andrew Wolfe, another National Guardsman from West Virginia, was wounded in the November 26 attack and is in critical condition.
Magistrate Judge Renee Raymond ordered Lakanwal detained until the next hearing in the case on Jan 14.
Death penalty sought
Attorney General Pam Bondi has said she plans to seek the death penalty for Lakanwal, who entered the United States as part of a resettlement programme following the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Lakanwal had been part of a CIA-backed “partner force” fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to US officials.
According to a criminal complaint filed on Dec 2, Lakanwal ambushed Ms Beckstrom and Mr Wolfe while they were on a routine patrol outside a metro station in downtown Washington.
Another National Guard member who was on the scene was quoted in the complaint as saying that he saw Lakanwal open fire and scream “Allahu Akbar!”
The National Guard soldier drew his weapon, shot and wounded Lakanwal and then restrained him as he attempted to reload his gun, the complaint said.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said over the weekend that Lakanwal may have been radicalised after entering the United States.
A resident of the western US state of Washington, he allegedly drove cross-country to carry out the shooting – an attack that shocked Americans on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Tributes left at the scene where two National Guard members were shot, in Washington, on Dec 2.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
President Donald Trump’s administration suspended visas for all Afghan nationals following the attack and froze decisions in all asylum cases.
Lakanwal was granted asylum in April 2025, under the Trump administration, but officials have blamed what they called lax vetting by the government of Mr Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden for his admission to US soil during the Afghan airlift.
The Justice Department announced meanwhile that an Afghan man has been charged in Texas with threatening to build a bomb and carry out a suicide attack on Americans.
Mohammad Dawood Alokozay, 30, of Fort Worth, allegedly praised the Taliban and made the threats in a Nov 23 video that he shared on TikTok, X and Facebook, the department said in a statement.
“Thanks to public reports of a threatening online video, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force apprehended this individual before he could commit an act of violence,” FBI Dallas special agent in charge Joseph Rothrock said.
Alokozay faces up to five years in prison if convicted of making a threatening interstate communication. AFP
