FBI probes motives in ‘targeted’ attack on National Guard soldiers near White House
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Members of various law enforcement agencies at the scene where two members of the National Guard were shot in Washington on Nov 26.
PHOTO: ERIC LEE/NYTIMES
Follow topic:
- An Afghan immigrant, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, shot and critically wounded two National Guard soldiers in Washington D.C., near the White House.
- President Trump called the shooting an “act of terror” and an “act of evil”, vowing a “steep price” and a re-examination of Afghan immigrants.
- Immigration processing for Afghan nationals has been halted, and the incident has intensified debate over immigration policy and militarised deployments.
AI generated
WASHINGTON – Investigators led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s joint terrorism task force sought clues on Nov 27 to what drove an Afghan immigrant to open fire on two National Guard soldiers mere blocks from the White House in what officials called an “ambush” attack on Thanksgiving eve.
The two soldiers, part of a militarised law enforcement mission ordered by President Donald Trump months ago and challenged in court by officials of the District of Columbia, were in critical condition
The suspect, who was wounded in an exchange of gunfire before he was arrested, was identified by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan.
Mr Trump, who was at his resort in Florida at the time of the attack, released a pre-recorded video late on Nov 26 calling the shooting “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror”.
He said his administration would “re-examine” all Afghans who came to the United States during Democrat Joe Biden’s presidency.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency later said it has halted processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals
According to the DHS, Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era programme to resettle thousands of Afghans who assisted the US and feared reprisals from Taliban forces that seized control of Afghanistan after the Americans withdrew.
NBC News, citing an interview with an unnamed relative of the suspect, reported early on Nov 26 that Lakanwal served in the Afghan army for 10 years alongside US Special Forces troops and was stationed in Kandahar for part of that time.
The relative also said Lakanwal was working for online retail giant Amazon.com the last time they spoke several months ago, according to NBC News.
The DHS did not include other details of his immigration record.
But a Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved on April 23, 2025, three months after Mr Trump took office.
Lakanwal, 29, who resided in Washington state, had no known criminal history, the official said.
The shooting unfolded at midday outside a subway station in a bustling commercial area within a few blocks of the White House.
Secret Service agents placed the presidential mansion under a security lockdown immediately after the shooting as a precaution.
In response to the shooting, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the President asked to send another 500 National Guard troops to join the more than 2,000 soldiers previously mobilised in the nation’s capital.
Vice-President J.D. Vance, who was in Kentucky on Nov 26, said in a post on X that the shooting proved that the Trump administration’s immigration policy was justified.
“We must redouble our efforts to deport people with no right to be in our country,” he said.
Critics of the Trump administration’s immigration policy say it has employed illegally harsh tactics
‘Targeted shooting’
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has clashed openly with Mr Trump over the deployment of the National Guard in her city, told reporters hours after the incident “this is a targeted shooting”.
At the same news briefing, Mr Jeff Carroll, executive assistant chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, said the two National Guard soldiers were “ambushed”, and that the known assailant appeared to have acted alone.
The two soldiers, members of the West Virginia National Guard, were on a “high-visibility patrol” outside the entrance to a subway station when the suspect “came around the corner”, drew a weapon and immediately fired at the pair, Mr Carroll said.
After an exchange of gunfire, other National Guard troops subdued the suspect, he said.
Mr Trump said in August he was ordering the National Guard deployment to fight crime in a city he said had become unsafe, despite objections from District of Columbia officials who challenged the move in court as an infringement on local government control.
The Nov 26 shooting came five days after a federal judge issued a ruling to temporarily block National Guard troops from performing law enforcement duties in the district without the mayor’s approval.
The judge, however, paused the effect of her order until December to allow an appeal from the Trump administration.
Mr Trump, a Republican, has deployed troops in several other Democratic-led cities – Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, Oregon, and Memphis, Tennessee – to combat what he has described as lawlessness and violent unrest over his crackdown on illegal immigration.
Democratic leaders of those cities have accused Mr Trump of manufacturing pretexts for militarised shows of force to punish political foes. REUTERS
