TOI correspondent from Washington: In a brazen daylight ambush that has shaken Washington DC, two National Guard personnel were shot and critically wounded just a few blocks from the White House on Wednesday by an Afghan national who served with the US military and the CIA in Afghanistan. The suspect, identified as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was wounded in a firefight with responding officers and remains in custody as federal investigators probe what President Donald Trump has branded an “act of terror” conducted by an “animal.”
The incident, unfolding amid heightened security tensions in the post-election landscape, has ignited a fierce partisan blame game over US immigration policies, halted all processing for Afghan refugees and asylum seekers, and drawn sharp scrutiny to the humanitarian role of American veterans in facilitating the resettlement of allies who fought alongside them in America’s longest war.Hours after the incident, the Trump administration said it had stopped processing immigration applications from Afghanistan, pending further review of security and vetting protocols. “We must take all necessary measures to ensure 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,” President Trump said in remarks after the attack. The shooting occurred around 2 pm on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, near the Farragut West metro station, a bustling corridor lined with federal buildings, lobbying offices, and tourist hotspots. Eyewitnesses described a chaotic scene: a man in dark clothing emerging from a parked sedan, firing a semi-automatic handgun at the two uniformed Guardsmen who were on foot patrol as part of a Trump-ordered deployment to bolster DC security. The victims, identified as Staff Sgt. Elijah Ramirez, 32, and Sgt. Marcus Hale, 28, were struck multiple times in the torso and legs. They were rushed to George Washington University Hospital a few blocks away, where surgeons performed emergency procedures to stem bleeding. As of Thursday morning, both remained in critical but stable condition.Ramirez, a father of three and Iraq War veteran, and Hale, a recent enlistee with service in Europe, were part of a 500-member National Guard contingent deployed to the District in September 2025 under an executive order aimed at curbing urban unrest following the November election. Following the shooting, defense secretary Pete Hegseth rushed an additional 500-person Guard to the capital.The FBI, leading the investigation with assistance from the department of homeland security, has classified the attack as a “targeted assault” but has not publicly confirmed a motive. It initially refrained from even calling it a terrorist attack pending investigations, but by nightfall President Trump characterized it an “act of terror.”Preliminary ballistics indicate Lakanwal used a 9mm Glock pistol purchased legally in Virginia last month, and his sedan contained a manifesto-like document railing against “American imperialism” and U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, according to local news outlets. As dawn broke over the cordoned-off crime scene on Thanksgiving Thursday, yellow police tape fluttered in the chill wind—a stark reminder of the mess from America’s tragic war in Afghanistan played out in a sidewalk in Washington DC.
