Suspect identified as Afghan national after shooting 2 National Guard soldiers near White House

Two National Guard soldiers have been shot and critically wounded in Washington near the White House in what officials described as a targeted ambush in the United States.

The suspect was also said to be in custody after suffering gunshot wounds during the incident.

The suspect was identified by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national.

Authorities said they had yet to determine a motive for the shooting.

According to DHS, Lakanwal entered the United States in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era programme to resettle thousands of Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the Afghanistan war and feared reprisals from Taliban forces who seized control of their homeland after the U.S. withdrawal.

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 of this year, three months after President Donald Trump took office.

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The official told Reuters that Lakanwal, 29, who resided in Washington state, had no known criminal history.

Trump, who was at his resort in Florida at the time of the attack on the National Guard, released a video statement late on Wednesday 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 U.S. during Joe Biden’s presidency.

Trump stressed that “we must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan” under former President Joe Biden.

“We must take all necessary measures to endure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here, or add benefit to our country if they can’t love our country, we don’t want them,” he said.

The Star