National Guard Member Dies, Another Critical After Washington Shooting : US President Donald Trump

28th November 2025 at 12:22 PM

1 minute read

Trump announced that US Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom injured in a targeted shooting near the White House a day earlier, has died.

New York : US President Trump on Thursday evening announced that US Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, one of two West Virginia National Guard members injured in a “targeted shooting” near the White House a day earlier, has died. Trump described Beckstrom, 20, as a “highly respected, young, magnificent person” and said, “She’s just passed away. The other young man is fighting for his life,” Trump said. “He’s in very bad shape. He’s fighting for his life.

Beckstrom’s father, Gary Beckstrom, told the New York Times that her injuries were unsurvivable. “I’m holding her hand right now,” he said during a phone call. “She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery. The shooting unfolded just blocks from the White House. Authorities continue to investigate the attack.

“Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom of the National Guard — a hero who volunteered to serve DC on Thanksgiving for people she never met and gave the ultimate sacrifice,” Pirro said in the post. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan man accused of the targeted attack on the National Guards, had spent years in one of the CIA’s most secretive Afghan combat units, US officials have confirmed.

Lakanwal arrived in the United States that same year through Operation Allies Welcome, the Biden-era programme that brought tens of thousands of Afghans who had worked with American forces. The Biden Administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the US Government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement to CBS.

According to federal prosecutors, Lakanwal drove more than 2,500 miles from Bellingham, Washington, to Washington DC before carrying out what officials described as an “ambush-style” attack using a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver.