Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, was reportedly identified as the gunman who shot two National Guard members in Washington, not far from the White House, in what the FBI is said to be probing as a terror attack.
Speaking to the nation on Wednesday night, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the gunman shot the two victims at “point-blank range” in a “monstrous, ambush-style attack just steps from the White House.”
Trump called the attack an “act of evil and act of hatred and act of terror.”
One of the victims was allegedly a female National Guard member who was shot in the head.
“It was a crime against our entire nation,” Trump said. “We must now reexamine every alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden.”
Lakanwal reportedly entered the country as part of former President Joe Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal plan and overstayed his visa. Trump called the suspect’s transfer from Afghanistan “one of those infamous flights that everyone was talking about” and said that unvetted foreign nationals represent the “single greatest national security threat.”
“If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them,” Trump said.
The president said that he had directed the U.S. war secretary to send another 500 troops to protect the capital. “We will bring the perpetrator of this barbaric attack to swift and certain justice, if the bullets going in the opposite direction haven’t already done that,” Trump said.
“Absolutely sickening. If these new reports are true, this ‘Afghan national’ ambushed West Virginia service members in broad daylight—the very ones defending my home state, D.C. and beyond,” stated Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.).
“We need to immediately review each and every special visa applicant who was allowed in under the former administration,” Justice said. “This can’t happen again.”
“He was an illegal,” wrote Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.). “An illegal immigrant Muslim terrorist just attacked the National Guard. The time for soft words is over.”
Earlier in the day, Trump stated that “the animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded, and now in two separate hospitals, is also severely wounded but regardless, will pay a very steep price.”
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, initially wrote that “it is with great sorrow that we can confirm both members of the West Virginia National Guard, who were shot earlier today in Washington, D.C., have passed away from their injuries.”
He later said that “we are now receiving conflicting reports about the condition of our two Guard members and will provide additional updates once we receive more complete information.”
In a message posted earlier in the day, Israeli President Isaac Herzog offered “heartfelt condolences” and referred to the two being “murdered in a terrible attack.”
“From Israel, we send a message of friendship and solidarity to President Trump and all those serving in and around the White House,” he said. “We stand shoulder to shoulder with our greatest friend and ally, the United States of America.”
