US plans to charge suspect in National Guard shooting with terrorism
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Pictures of two National Guard members who were on patrol just blocks from the White House when they were critically wounded.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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- US Attorney-General Pam Bondi aims to charge Rahmanullah Lakanwal with terrorism for shooting two National Guard troops in Washington.
- Charges depend on the soldiers' survival; death penalty possible if either soldier dies, according to Bondi.
- Trump orders 500 more National Guard troops to Washington and a review of all Afghan immigrants' vetting.
AI generated
WASHINGTON – United States Attorney-General Pam Bondi said the US plans to charge the suspect who shot two National Guard troops in Washington
She added that the charges will depend in part on whether either of the Guard soldiers dies, in which case the administration would try to seek the death penalty against the suspect in custody, an Afghan man who entered the US in 2021.
“The most important thing you can do today is pray,” she said on Nov 27 on Fox News. She added that “we’re evaluating everything” on potential charges against the suspect, who has been identified as 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
The two members of the West Virginia National Guard were on patrol just blocks from the White House when they were critically wounded. A gunman was taken into custody after another guardsman returned fire and moved in to stop him, officials said.
Ms Bondi said the two shooting victims, one man and one woman, had gone through surgery but provided no further details on their condition. Ms Bondi said the woman had volunteered to work during the Thanksgiving holiday.
“I’m not going to talk about their conditions right now. I know their families are with them,” Bondi said.
Several hundred Guard troops have been patrolling downtown Washington in a high-profile deployment ordered by US President Donald Trump. A federal judge recently ruled that the deployment was likely illegal – though guardsmen were not required to leave the district immediately to allow time for appeal.
The administration said earlier it is halting all immigration cases involving Afghan nationals “pending further review of security and vetting protocols”. Ms Bondi called the shooting suspect a “monster who should not have been in our country”.
Mr Trump, in a video address recorded and released on the evening of Nov 26 in Florida, said the US “must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden”.
He ordered 500 more National Guard troops into Washington. BLOOMBERG
