Suspect in custody after 2 National Guardsmen shot in Washington, D.C.

by · UPI

Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Two West Virginia National Guardsmen have been hospitalized in critical condition and a suspect has also been hospitalized after a targeted shooting near the White House on Wednesday afternoon.

The Guardsmen and the shooter were taken to nearby hospitals after the shooting occurred about two blocks northwest of the White House at 2:15 p.m. EST on Wednesday, WTTG reported.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey earlier said the two Guardsmen were killed, but he later corrected himself and affirmed they are in critical condition.

The suspect has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan citizen, the New York Post, NBC News and Newsweek reported.

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The FBI said it is investigating the attack as a possible act of terrorism.

Lakanwal is a lone gunman who ambushed the two National Guardsmen when he came around a corner and started shooting, Jeffery Carroll, Metropolitan Police Department executive assistant chief, said during a news conference.

The National Guard members were on "high-visibility patrol ... when a suspect came around a corner, raised his arm with a firearm and discharged at the National Guard members," Carroll said.

Other National Guardsmen were nearby and intervened.

Carroll said there was "some back and forth" between the suspect and National Guard members, who were able to subdue him until local police arrived moments later.

At a news conference afterward, FBI Director Kash Patel called the shooting "an attack on a federal law enforcement officer" and said it will be treated as such at the federal level.

He said the FBI, Secret Service, other federal agencies and local police will work together to investigate the shooting, which he called a "matter of national security."

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said local officials will "join with the FBI director in ensuring that the MPD investigates and the U.S. attorney prosecutes this case to the fullest extent of the law."

There are no other suspects in the shooting, authorities said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump was briefed on the matter, and White House staff are monitoring the situation.

The president afterward expressed his support for the two wounded Guardsmen.

"The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded, and now in two separate hospitals, is also severely wounded," Trump said in a Truth Social post.

He said the suspect "will pay a very steep price" for the shooting, which so far lacks a known motive.

"God bless our great National Guard and all of our military and law enforcement," the president said. "These are truly great people."

In a press conference Wednesday night, Trump labeled the attack "an act of evil and an act of hatred and an act of terror" and a "crime against humanity" perpetrated against the entire nation.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed in a statement that the suspect was from Afghanistan and had entered the United States in September 2021 on an evacuation flight from Kabul during the U.S. military's chaotic exit from the Middle Eastern country.

Trump said in response that they "must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan" during the Biden administration.

"And we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or adds benefit to our country," he said.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced in a post on X Wednesday night that it was immediately halting the processing of all immigration requests from Afghan nationals while it reviewed its security and vetting protocols.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement to Fox News Digital that the suspected shooter had been allowed to enter the United States because of his prior work with U.S. forces, including as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, a southern city in Afghanistan.

"This individual - and so many others - should have never been allowed to com here," he said.

Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, an advocacy group for Afghans who worked with the U.S. government, posted a statement on X condemning the attack and calling for the perpetrator to face full accountability. He added that Afghan immigrants seeking to resettle in the U.S. already undergo "some of the most extensive security vetting of any population entering the country."

"None of us want to be defined by the actions of another person, so we encourage the media, elected leaders, decision-makers and other people of influence not to demonize the Afghan community for the deranged choice this person made," VanDiver wrote.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the president has ordered him to deploy 500 more National Guard members to the capital, The New York Times reported.

About 2,100 National Guard members already are deployed in the capital.

The shooting occurred at the intersection of 17th Street and H Street Northwest.

"We will make America totally safe again," Trump said.