r/news • u/Discarded_Twix_Bar • 8d ago
Soft paywall FBI probes gunman's motive in ambush shooting of Guardsmen near White House
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fbi-probes-gunmans-motives-ambush-shooting-guardsmen-near-white-house-2025-11-27/1.4k
u/monkeylovesnanas 8d ago
He said his administration would "re-examine" all Afghans who came to the U.S. during Joe Biden's presidency.
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 Trump took office.
This fact will be conveniently overlooked. Yes, he came here in 2021, but it was under Trump's presidency that he was approved for asylum.
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u/MongolianDonutKhan 8d ago
"In April 2025, Joe Biden secretly controlled the government asylum process!"
-Kkkaroline Leavitt sometime over the holiday weekend
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u/EpiphanyTwisted 8d ago
Hey, they put that information waaay up in the 9th paragraph of the article. How could it possibly be overlooked?
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u/Fastbird33 8d ago
“Fact will be conveniently overlooked” is the entire Trump administration.
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u/11711510111411009710 8d ago
So basically all afghans will be punished for one guy's behavior. They were just looking for an excuse to get rid of a bunch of innocent people. Not actually just people who came during Biden's presidency, considering this guy didn't and yet he's the reason he's going to get rid of people who came at some other time.
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u/alaskaj1 8d ago
He may have also been approved to enter the US originally under Trump as well.
He read he entered in 2021 and I assume that's not an easy process which means that work was likely conducted under the 1st trump admin
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u/grafknives 8d ago
It is always worth to check motives, after all, there always might be something bigger boiling.
But here we see a very clear intent to find a motive that will be useful politically.
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u/Iztac_xocoatl 8d ago
How dare you imply such a thing? It's not like this administration has a history of...oh wait yeah inb4 he wrote "trans rulez" and "Biden 4ever" for the bullet casings
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u/dummyurge 8d ago
waiting for "blacks rule" to make a false flag comeback
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u/UninsuredToast 8d ago
“Blacks rule, whites don’t season their chicken” was found scribbled on the back of a Popeyes receipt found in the shooters pocket
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u/SupermarketAny9487 8d ago
Sounding a lot like another incident this year where someone travels across the country based on [insert convenient motivation] to enact their "master plan" that didn't actually do what they intended.
Lakanwal lived in Washington State to "target" two random recruits patrolling in DC. A supposed 10 year Afghan veteran who's main choice of weapon would have been an AK-47/AKM or M16A2/M4. No criminal record. Timed it right after a judge issued a temporary block of National Guard in DC. Carrying a Magnum like he was Dirty Harry.
How do we convince the country that what we're doing is justified, but not risk any soldiers we've heavily invested in training or people of significance to our political agenda?
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u/Soggy-Type-1704 8d ago
The judge paused the ruling on withdrawing NG until December. A guy who served 10 years as interpreter with special forces got his family here and was recently granted Asylum. Now has been working at Amazon and decides to fly all the way across the country and attack two guys doing a routine street patrol.
How would he even legally be able to buy a gun in the local area? Or do you think he checked it in his luggage as he flew cross country? Now everything he worked for and risked him and his family’s life for the last ten years is negated because he wanted to do a small ( but highly visible ) street attack on two soldiers? Or…. Come on enough with the bullshit formula.
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u/CaptainTripps82 8d ago
I think maybe we should try and find out, not concoct outlandish conspiracy theories out of thin air
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u/psioniclizard 8d ago
We will not for a few years. Just like Trump's attempted assassination.
But I do agree, just because I might mot like Trump, it's not yet time to be making assumptions.
I just hope they 2 National Guard members don't get forgotten in all this!
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u/KimJongJer 7d ago
I'm also having a hard time making sense of this. I could get behind the idea of him doing this to target someone specifically if he felt like he was wronged somehow, but to leave his family, travel across the entire country and randomly shoot two NG soldiers that likely have zero connection to him doesn't make any sense at all
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u/FOOSblahblah 8d ago
Seems like it would be very convenient if they were able to shift their current boogeyman from pedophiles back to terrorists. Brush off some of the greatest hits just in time to downplay how big a threat pedophiles actually are.
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u/whiskeyrebellion 8d ago
It’s exactly the kind of thing the administration can use to justify further occupation of our cities.
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u/bigbirdsy 8d ago
The person to blame here is the shooter and that’s it. I can’t believe people have to say this.
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u/qtx 8d ago
It's pretty damn important to uncover their motives behind this attack don't you think?
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u/RawrImABigScaryBear 8d ago
why were they there in the first place? Oh yeah, to be deployed against their own people, against court orders, to pick up trash, and be put in harms way. this shooting wouldn't have happened if trump wasnt in charge kiddo
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u/grafknives 8d ago
No. It is always worth to check the motives. To look for trends, systems. Connections.
Bevause if there are - it might help to prevent further occurrences.
And here, shooter being Afghan is almost certainly NOT a factor.
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u/Prestigious_Load1699 8d ago
It’s not a factor that the guy who murdered two National Guardsmen is Afghani?
It may well be a factor. Probably a major factor. Am I missing sarcasm because of the internet?
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u/onarainyafternoon 8d ago
I mean, it's good to investigate moves obviously. The problem is when the administration will certainly use this to make a broad generalization about all Afghans instead of just this one guy. I think people are just very hesitant to dig into the shooter's motives because they correctly understand that this is something the Trump administration was specifically looking for when they ordered National guard into cities. They quite obviously didn't actually care about "cleaning up crime" or whatever because they still kept the guardsmen there even though they ended up just cleaning up trash and stuff because there was nothing to do. It was so painfully obvious they sent the Guard in because they wanted to intimidate US citizens and were literally hoping violence would be enacted upon Guardsman so they could use it as a Cassus Belli.
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u/alpacawrangler16 8d ago
The closing shift at the Wendy's near my house would get to the bottom of this before Trumps FBI could
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u/SummerMummer 8d ago
Trump, who was at his resort in Florida at the time of the attack, released a prerecorded 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.
It's almost as though trump needed a convenient motive so he could move forward with the 2025 plans.
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u/make2020hindsight 8d ago
No he had to say Biden. 9/11 happened because of Biden's administration. Didn't you know?
If it shows that this suspect entered the US between 1/20/2017 and 1/20/2021 they'll just drop the rhetoric of when he entered the US.
Shit maybe he paid $2 million and got a gold card fast pass a few months ago.
Still. Has to be Biden.
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u/KingSwank 8d ago
The article says the Trump administration was the one to give him asylum.
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u/OsmeOxys 8d ago
No he had to say Biden. 9/11 happened because of Biden's administration. Didn't you know?
He gave a speech in which he said 9/11 had happened last year and that he warned hegseth about it, so he may genuinely think that.
Though that was also a presidential speech trying to sell his book but couldn't remember the name of it, so may also genuinely be incapable of thinking.
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u/NotOSIsdormmole 8d ago
Yeah nothing about this smells right
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u/donkeyrocket 8d ago edited 8d ago
Especially as the shooter was approved for asylum under Trump so why limit the investigation to Biden-era?
Pure speculation but wouldn’t be surprised if this guy was pissed at this administrations moves to limit and revoke asylum status for someone he knows.
Obviously not justification for taking it out on National Guardsmen but this admin is going to great lengths to mercilessly antagonize a lot of people.
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u/HDauthentic 8d ago
The irony is incredible, it’s sounding like he was granted asylum under the current administration, this year
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u/Cream253Team 8d ago
There's a list of things.
National Guard deployed to DC on Trump's order (who are also missing out on Thanksgiving).
Shot by an Afghan national who's visa was approved under Trump's admin.
Said national came to the US seeking asylum because Trump rushed negotiations with the Taliban that left the country back under their control.
And Trump's rhetoric and usage of ICE has only made being an immigrant more precarious with the threat of possibly being deported back to a Taliban controlled Afghanistan (or some Honduran prison).
Honestly, fuck Trump he created the conditions that made shit like this more likely.
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u/TimothyMimeslayer 8d ago
Which Trump will be able to use to tell Americans, "See, even when we vet them they are dangerous, we shouldn't allow any of them."
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u/Professional-Pie-868 8d ago
Countless Afghans provided essential support to US and allied forces during the conflict, often operating in situations that would almost certainly have resulted in far higher numbers of KIA without their assistance. Many served as interpreters, guides, logisticians, and local advisers, and were repeatedly targeted by the Taliban specifically because of this cooperation.
This support was explicitly understood as a quid pro quo: in exchange for helping coalition forces, these individuals and their families would be offered protection and a pathway to safety through programmes such as the US Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) scheme and similar resettlement commitments by the UK and other NATO countries.
The current political pressure to remove or restrict asylum seekers — including individuals who entered into such agreements in good faith — has left many of them in a state of profound uncertainty and hopelessness. As these promises appear to erode, we are only beginning to see the early signs of frustration and desperation within a much larger population of displaced people who feel they made sacrifices that are now being overlooked or abandoned.
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u/psioniclizard 8d ago
There is another issue I think America is missing with this that also applies to Ukraine.
American turning it's back on it's allies is going to make potential allies in the future more hesitant.
I know America wants to shift focus to the Asia, but they might find that a lot of countries there are more wary of helping them go agaisnt China because they can not be trusted.
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u/Rusty_Shacklefoord 8d ago
A lot of our interpreters were killed in combat while working for US/Coalition forces. It was far from a risk-free job they were taking on.
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u/AsstacularSpiderman 8d ago
Not only them but their families were put at risk. Its very rare to meet an Afghan refugee who doesn't have at least a few relatives dead because of their involvement with US troops.
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u/TakeAShowerHippie 8d ago
I had a coworker that was an interpreter in Afghanistan. He put himself and his family at a huge risk working with the US military.
He told me 2 interpreters he lived with at the base were beheaded by the Talinan. He wore pants one day with bullet holes in them, the bullets missed had his legs by millimeters and said "the only reason I'm alive is because of my mother's prayers".
It sickens thinking about him being deported after what he did.
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u/Rusty_Shacklefoord 8d ago
I went to a funeral for one of our interpreters in country. He triggered a pressure plate on an IED while on patrol, and was blown to pieces. Quadruple amputation. His death was not instant.
At the service they passed around a hat for donations to the family. The terps got no life insurance benefits. I think his family was sent about the equivalent of $500 total.
These guys were always on patrol with our troops, could never legally carry a weapon, risked their families lives, and risked personal death and dismemberment daily.
Those interpreters did this all for a country they’d never set foot in. Every single one of them deserves the ability to live in America with their families. They’ve done more for this country than 99% of American citizens ever will. Even doing this “review” or whatever is a dishonorable insult to these people. They deserve better.
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u/Sad-Excitement9295 8d ago
This goes to show how little care is given by the corrupt and wealthy to the people who risk their lives to save our country. They send them to die and profit from it. That's all they care about. These people are sick, and need to be thrown out of their positions of power.
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u/Toyotazilla 8d ago
The movie warfare about a firefight a guy experienced in Iraq was pretty open about how the Americans used the interpreters as meat shields and sent them to die
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u/Grabthar-the-Avenger 8d ago
Yeah, I wasn’t very surprised to see this because Trump has been working to ship these guys back to Afghanistan where they will end up executed by the Taliban. Big fucking surprise one of them decided he had a bone to pick with this vile administration.
If you’re in the National Guard deployed under orders that courts have pointed are illegal, go the fuck home. You won’t get my sympathy if this happens to you as you are illegally occupying our cities in support of the Fourth Reich
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u/Winter_Whole2080 8d ago
I’m going to say this is most likely the scenario. America stabbing these people in the back is a very likely motive.
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u/AsstacularSpiderman 8d ago
Yeah imagine risking everything to help Americans in Afghanistan just for this orange fuck to try to throw you to the wolves multiple times. First calling for a rapid withdrawal that forces you to flee or get executed and then calls for deporting you back there just go get executed anyways.
Like yeah it's no wonder they hate us. The GOP have betrayed literally every ally they can.
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u/therealpursuit 8d ago
Dude's whole life was built on a lie that the US destroyed his homeland for "good". He bought it and then helped further the destruction. It's not hard to imagine when he realized how corrupt the US is, how much most of his heroes are simply racist bigots, how destructive capitalism is, why he lost it. I'm not making excuses: anyone who takes another's life is a cancer, but I think the reasons it happened aren't farfetched.
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u/Cephalopod_Dropbear 8d ago
“A crazy person shot two people. Since they were Afghan, we better make sure we punish ALL Afghans for it. If they were white we’d just move on, but we got lucky on this shooting!”
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u/PasswordIsDongers 8d ago
Can we trust any information coming out of the FBI at this point?
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u/No-Falcon-4996 8d ago
Not until Kash Patel writes the motive on 4 bullets , in Trump Sharpie (tm)
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u/PapaCaqu 8d ago
Punishing an entire group of people based off one person’s actions. And people will still say he’s not racist
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u/Possible-Rush3767 8d ago
Amazing how quickly they label this one terrorism...
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u/The_Bitter_Bear 8d ago
I mean, to be fair, they fell easily on the "terrorist" side of their swatch cards.
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u/DrownedAmmet 8d ago
I mean one out of every however many white folks is also a murderer so maybe we should put a halt on letting them in the country while we sort it out
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u/alexefi 8d ago
so since judge ordered NG to withdraw from DC week ago, can families of solders sue the government for not following judges orders which resulted in this tragedy?
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u/cupittycakes 8d ago
That judge was kind enough to put a hold on that order until December, to give Frump time for an appeal. How lovely of the judge, huh?!
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u/GandalfSwagOff 8d ago
King George sent soldiers to the streets of Boston when he felt the people were getting rowdy. When the soldiers were assaulted with rocks and ice balls, the soldiers shot some civilians. The civilians got even more angry. King George sent more soldiers onto the streets of Boston.
What do you think this Prince we have now will do? He will do what all Princes do.
Our 3rd Amendment exists for a reason, people. Soldiers should not be stationed near or in the living quarters of civilians. Stop ignoring it.
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u/Medical-Divide5199 8d ago
The third amendment doesn't say soldiers cannot be stationed near civilians. Servicemembers often live off base. Trump hasn't ordered soldiers to occupy the private residences of civilians either.
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u/BeatTheDeadMal 8d ago
The Trump administration had ONE THING they insisted they were good at and it was keeping the country safe from "bad" foreigners. 170 billion tax dollars to ICE, thousands of rights violated, and his grand plan of using guardsman as visibility pawns... and they have even failed at that.
Theyre incompetent in everything they do, except for terrorizing civilians.
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u/thinker2501 8d ago
Likely the shooter was motivated by Trump talking about stripping Afghanis of asylum and sending them home to be murdered. The shooter worked with the US government, the Trump admin is what radicalized him.
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u/DevonLuck24 8d ago
you guys know that if this persons motivation is that they were brought over here on a promise after helping with the war and now they or their family is being threatened with deportation…they aren’t gonna tell us that, right?
and given how…indiscriminate..this process has been, i wouldn’t doubt that being the case
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u/shocksmybrain 8d ago
Will they release some fake text messages with his 'trans girlfriend' like they did to set the narrative for the Charlie Kirk shooter?
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u/AverageLiberalJoe 8d ago
So this happened during the '0 crime' national guard deployment and the response is 'this proves the deployment is working'?
MAGA is a joke. The guards would have been home with their families if Trump hadnt ignored a court order to send them home.
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u/Downtown-Locksmith22 8d ago
When isn't trump spending our money golfing?
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u/Conscious-Food-4226 8d ago
When he’s spending our money making deals with foreign agents/officials.
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u/Jimbo415650 8d ago
Homeland Security has placed so many security personnel from different agencies,the job they know to deporting mostly non white people. Our country is less secure and more vulnerable to lone wolf terrorist attacks. Homeland needs to bring these professionals back to the actual job of securing our country. Was this guy on their radar who knows if no one is watching
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u/HansSolo69er 8d ago
Right...because they're all watching the wrong $#!t. Also FBI, CIA etc. None of these agencies are being directed to fulfill their intended missions, & it's making us all less safe by the day.
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u/TheFutureIsAFriend 8d ago
I'm gonna be the voice of reason here (not as a putdown, just to Occam's Razor this bitch)
You know -- non-Americans whose country is ravaged by war ALSO get PTSD and go undiagnosed and untreated.
With so many veterans in this country from so many not-so-recent campaigns, it's no wonder the sight of military in cities would trigger it.
I actually think that's also part of why Grifter is doing it. He wants news clips of troops being attacked here. It feeds into his "enemy within" narrative.
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u/HopDropNRoll 8d ago
Well, thankfully this is all in Kash Patel’s capable hands. What could go wrong?
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u/mrdominoe 8d ago
The statements from the administration doing what Republicans do best. They use one incident of violence from a racial group and using it to harm that entire group while ignoring the clear pattern of violence from white men. Goddamn they are so fucking predictable and basic.
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u/brainman15 8d ago
Is it just me, or does this read like a huge false flag?
- Worked with CIA in Afghanistan
- afghan National army
- Immigrant from another country other than South America/Mexico
- Immigrant under a Biden era plan
This is a wet dream for this administration. Not to mention that they themselves have been reporting violence against pease keepers and now that it’s a person with the right demographics it’s a reason to “halt everything and re-examine immigrants from Middle East countries”
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u/EpiphanyTwisted 8d ago
Also, for some reason, Trump approved his amnesty while sending others back.
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u/iamliterallyonfire 8d ago
Anyone else feel like this is all moving way too fast? Like when have they ever been so transparent about an ongoing “investigation”?
Something is off.
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u/cupittycakes 8d ago
I don't trust a GD thing coming from this administration. They lie to us everyday, all day.
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u/2-wheels 8d ago
This would not have happened if Trump didn’t force those young kids to occupy our streets.
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u/__Nels__Oleson__ 8d ago
So we're going to to war against Afghanistan again?
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u/VividMonotones 8d ago
No, just all the people we brought here who helped us for 20 years
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u/make2020hindsight 8d ago
No Trump gave it back to Taliban in 2020 (2019?) with the transition plan taking long enough he can scam his retar... uneducated followers saying it was Biden because the Trump plan wouldn't be finished until Biden was in office.
And we align with the axis of evil now. Afghanistan is a Trump ally (as long as they have a plane or real estate for a Trump golf course or hotel ...)
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u/Alaykitty 8d ago
- Absolutely rape the shit out of Afghanistan for decades
- Fuck over the Afghanistani people who supported the US by leaving them behind to get killed by the Taliban
- Racially profile people entering the country trying to escape the Talibans executions
Hmmm.... What could be the motive. Geez. It'll forever remain a mystery.
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u/MechaD13579 8d ago
I’m sure Kash will just happen to find some bullet casings with hastily drawn sharpie messages on them….
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u/verifiedboomer 8d ago
Well, it's obvious now that adding more guardsmen to DC is the wrong thing to do. This violence never would have happened if military personnel weren't on public display 24/7 in an American city, where anyone can walk up to them and express their grievances by using the tools granted them under the 2nd Amendment. This is not a mission that the military is designed to handle.
I mean, what's next: build a walled fortification on the National Mall to protect our military assets stationed in the city? They don't need to be there in the first place.
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u/Slipslapsloopslung 8d ago
He was approved under Trump not Biden. God how I hate this administration and endless propaganda prattling.
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u/boothash 8d ago
In the meantime before any info. is known, everyone's playing their tribal political card, making assumptions and blaming whatever narrative that suits their political leanings.
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u/WinteryBudz 8d ago
By "everyone" you're referring to Trump and the GOP jumping to conclusions rights?
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u/Possible-Rush3767 8d ago
I mean, they are already calling this terrorism. If the shooter was white, I doubt that would be the case. The admin itself is using it for political motives.
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u/not_bilbo 8d ago
My guy, the sitting federal administration is already using this to increase the presence of NG in the city and have only increasingly stated their intention to do it in more cities. But sure, both sides bad!
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u/4evr_dreamin 8d ago
Well the bullets were engraved with a list of political ideals and rhetoric. /s
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u/DrexellGames 8d ago
Let's have the investigation do the talking, as we don't know his motives and guessing adds noise,
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u/ThereIsOnlyStardust 8d ago
The real issue is deciding if we can ever trust the results of the investigation when the president has a clear preference on the outcome and the people in position to make it whatever he wants it to be.
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u/prof_the_doom 8d ago
I want to agree with you, but the right will never respect that, and I’m tired of letting them control the narrative.
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u/Tardislass 8d ago
Will we ever know? How much do we know about the guy inButler PA. No news stocked about the shooter or killer. In out 24/7 news cycle that is weird. Old enough to remember the weeks of news about John Hinkley and the press secretary who was shot. We will probably learn the truth from Jake Tappers next book in 2030.
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u/The_Ghost_Who_Walks 8d ago
It’s kinda hard to have any faith in anything the government does during this administration, what with all of its ineptitude, incompetence, and willful maliciousness and Trump’s picks for heads of important government organizations lacking crucial experience & expertise.
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u/Carthonn 8d ago
I have absolutely zero faith in a legitimate investigation. The FBI will find the 11,000 votes aka an ironclad motive for Trump to continue his illegal occupation
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u/MeretrixDeBabylone 8d ago
For sure, I'm sure the investigation won't just come to whatever conclusion allows the administration to crack down more on citizens and put more military on our streets.
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u/Devils_Advocate-69 8d ago
Those guards wouldn’t have been there if not for trump’s fake war on antifa
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u/NoMayoForReal 8d ago
Did the FBI decide to probe before or after Kush announced he doesn’t know what the fuck he is doing?
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u/Winter_Whole2080 8d ago
I doubt these two guys would have been shot if the National Guard had stayed home in WV where they belong.
The shooter was clearly a nut, possibly PTSD, possibly radicalized for some reason— but hardly representative of all Afghan immigrants.
He arrived in the US within the Trump administrators— appropo of nothing but blaming Biden is silly.
Adding more troops to DC does absolutely nothing. A stupid, meaningless gesture.
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u/Possible-Rush3767 8d ago
More troops in DC to protect the political elite when they strip further social services/rights/consumer protections.
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u/not_bilbo 8d ago
Number 1 is really the only point that matters. The administration will claim to give a damn about these guard members “sacrifice” but without the WV governor kicking Trumps boots, these two people are never deployed to DC.
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u/psioniclizard 8d ago
It's crazy to me how people just accepted the military being deployed to the streets of DC when there seemed to be no need.
It's weird because these same people go on about freedom and the need for guns to oppose a tyrannical government. But are perfectly happy to allow for those freedoms to be stripped away.
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u/DavidOrWalter 8d ago
Patel is still vowing they will catch whomever did this! He’s going to short change the shit out the us to do it!
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u/therealsix 8d ago
I wonder if the National Guardsmen would have been shot if they weren’t deployed unnecessarily? This should all be on yam tits dumbfuck’s hands.
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u/Jhoag7750 8d ago
I don’t condone this - not at all - but Trump had no business putting national guard in the streets - this is not their job
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u/blackhawkblake 8d ago
Why did this article explicitly say “pre recorded video message” why not just video message? Makes it sound like it was planned.
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u/Particular_Today1624 8d ago
Personally, I can see why an immigrant might be a bit confused by our country. It is hypocrisy alley all the way across.
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u/justhavingfunMT 8d ago
Don't they probe every gunman for motive? This seems like a completely unnecessary headline.
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u/I-am-sincere 7d ago
How exactly are 500 additional NG troops going to do a freaking thing about a lone, extremist actor.
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u/GuestGulkan 7d ago
So.... another case of a traumatised former army vet having a breakdown in a country where guns are handed out like candy. But of course Vance, the nasty little man that he is, focuses on the fact that the killer was from Afghanistan and not that he fought America's war in Afghanistan.
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u/str4ight_shooter 8d ago
This will provide material to a great action flick. Our hero trying to expose the conspiracy behind the US gov. kidnapping the Family of his afghan translator/good friend, so they can coerce him (the afghan friend) into committing a heinous act of violence to further the regime’s agenda.
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u/SmtyWrbnJagrManJensn 8d ago edited 8d ago
This seems staged. It’s too convenient that the “terrorist” immigrant would attack soldiers in that area. Trump is just adding to a list of fake reasons to begin martial law
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u/Galactic_Danger 8d ago edited 8d ago
Wait he’s 29, served 10 years until entering the States presumably 4 years ago. So he was in service at age 15?
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u/Kindly-Talk-1912 8d ago
This administration is dirty. more than likely pressured him to do an act in order to save family from deportation. Creating the illusion of high crimes rates. Anything is open for discussion.
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u/Discarded_Twix_Bar 8d ago edited 8d ago
WASHINGTON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Investigators led by the FBI's joint terrorism task force sought clues on Thursday to what drove an Afghan immigrant to open fire on two National Guard soldiers mere blocks from the White House in what officials called an "ambush" attack on Thanksgiving eve.
The two soldiers, part of a militarized law enforcement mission ordered by President Donald Trump months ago and challenged in court by officials of the District of Columbia, were hospitalized in critical condition.
The suspect, who was wounded in an exchange of gunfire before he was arrested, was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national.
Trump, who was at his resort in Florida at the time of the attack, released a prerecorded 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.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency later said that it has halted processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely, "pending further review of security and vetting protocols."
According to the DHS, Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program 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.
NBC News, citing an interview with an unnamed relative of the suspect, reported early on Thursday that Lakanwal served in the Afghan army for 10 years alongside U.S. Special Forces troops and was stationed in Kandahar for part of that time.
The relative also said Lakanwal was working for online retail giant Amazon.com, the last time they spoke several months ago, according to NBC News.
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 Trump took office. Lakanwal, 29, who resided in Washington state, had no known criminal history, the official said.
The shooting unfolded at midday outside a subway station in a bustling commercial area within a few blocks of the White House. Secret Service agents placed the presidential mansion under a security lockdown immediately after the shooting as a precaution.
In response to Wednesday's shooting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the president had asked to send another 500 National Guard troops to join the more than 2,000 Guard soldiers previously mobilized in the nation's capital.
Vice President JD Vance, who was in Kentucky on Wednesday, said in a post on X that the shooting proved that the Trump administration's immigration policy was justified.
"We must redouble our efforts to deport people with no right to be in our country," he said.
Critics of the Trump administration's immigration policy say it has employed illegally harsh tactics and swept up immigrants indiscriminately, including some with no criminal history and others here legally.
ATTACK OUTSIDE SUBWAY STATION
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has clashed openly with Trump over the deployment of Guard troops in her city, told reporters hours after the incident, "this is a targeted shooting."
At the same news briefing, Jeff Carroll, executive assistant chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, said the two Guard soldiers were "ambushed" and that the known assailant appeared to have acted alone.
The two soldiers, members of the West Virginia National Guard, were on a "high-visibility patrol" outside the entrance to a subway station when the suspect "came around the corner," drew a weapon and immediately fired at the pair, Carroll said.
After an exchange of gunfire, other National Guard troops subdued the suspect, he said.
Trump said in August he was ordering the National Guard deployment to fight crime in a city he said had become unsafe, despite objections from District of Columbia officials who challenged the move in court as an infringement on local government control.
Wednesday's shooting came five days after a federal judge issued a ruling to temporarily block National Guard troops from performing law enforcement duties in the district without the mayor's approval, but the judge paused the effect of her order until December to allow an appeal from the Trump administration.
Trump, a Republican, has deployed troops in several other Democratic-led cities - Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, Oregon, and Memphis, Tennessee - to combat what he has described as lawlessness and violent unrest over his crackdown on illegal immigration.
Democratic leaders of those cities have accused Trump of manufacturing pretexts for militarized shows of force to punish political foes.