D.C. shooting suspect worked with CIA-backed units in Afghanistan, officials say

The gunman who shot and critically injured two National Guard members near the White House is an Afghan who worked with CIA-backed military units during the U.S. war in Afghanistan, the agency said Thursday.

Two members of the West Virginia National Guard were shot near a metro station in downtown Washington, D.C., on Wednesday afternoon by a lone gunman who was also injured and later detained, officials said.

The CIA director, John Ratcliffe, said that the suspect had come to the United States in September 2021, after the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, through a Biden-era immigration program for Afghans who had worked with the U.S. government. People familiar with the investigation identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29.

FBI Director Kash Patel and other law enforcement officials were expected to address the news media at 9 a.m. Eastern.

After officials disclosed the suspect’s nationality on Wednesday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency overseeing immigration in the United States, said that it had stopped processing immigration applications from Afghanistan. The pause will affect Afghans seeking to remain in the United States through immigration avenues like asylum and permanent residency, or those trying to enter the country.

In a video address late Wednesday, President Donald Trump said he had ordered 500 more National Guard troops to Washington, though it was unclear when they would arrive or where they would come from. The president framed the shooting as an “act of terror” and launched a broadside against immigration, saying it “underscores the single greatest national security threat facing our nation” and vowing to redouble his mass deportation efforts.

Here’s what else to know:

• Guard reaction: The names of the two injured Guard members have not been not released. Before the shooting, some officials and National Guard members worried about the safety of troops that the Trump administration had deployed in American cities.
• Witness accounts: The shooting happened near the entrance to the Farragut West metro station in Washington, blocks from the White House. Bystanders reported hearing a short burst of gunfire, followed by a longer barrage.
• Federal case: Last week, a federal judge ordered a temporary suspension of Trump’s highly contentious deployment of Guard troops to Washington, finding that it was likely illegal. The Trump administration asked for that decision to be blocked after the shooting.