National Guard Soldier Sarah Beckstrom Dies After Ambush Near White House
National Guard Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, one of two soldiers shot in an ambush-style attack near the White House, has died from her injuries, according to President Donald Trump. Trump made the announcement Thursday night before speaking to military units via video link from West Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the Thanksgiving holiday.
“I must unfortunately tell you that just seconds before I went on, right now, I heard that Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia — one of the Guardsmen, highly respected, young, magnificent person, started service in June 2023, outstanding in every way — she’s just passed away,” Trump said. “She’s no longer with us. Looking down on us right now. Her parents are with her. This just happened. She was savagely attacked. She’s dead. She’s not with us.”
Trump described Beckstrom as an “incredible person” who was “outstanding in every single way, every department. It’s horrible.” The other West Virginia National Guard member who was shot, Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, “is in very bad shape,” he said. “He’s fighting for his life, and hopefully we’ll get better news with respect to him.”
The suspected shooter — Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national — was called a “savage monster” by Trump, who criticized what he described as catastrophic vetting failures during former President Joe Biden’s chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021. The Department of Homeland Security stated Lakanwal came to the U.S. in September 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program to resettle thousands of Afghans who assisted U.S. forces during the Afghanistan war and feared reprisals after the Taliban seized control of the country.
Investigators said Lakanwal drove roughly 2,700 miles from outside Seattle to Washington, D.C., where he allegedly waited for the soldiers before ambushing them with a handgun. Federal records showed he served in Kandahar alongside U.S. forces before being brought to the U.S. during the evacuation. Trump called the attack “a crime against our entire nation.”
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said Thursday morning that Lakanwal was charged with three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. “We are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree,” Pirro said. “But make no mistake, if they do not, that will certainly be the charge — murder in the first degree.”
Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., expressed devastation upon learning about Beckstrom’s death. “I’m absolutely devastated to learn that Sarah Beckstrom passed away today after suffering a mortal wound in yesterday’s terrorist attack in Washington, DC,” he said. “Cathy and I are heartbroken beyond words. Our prayers are with her family, friends, and fellow Guardsmen during an incredibly difficult Thanksgiving Day.”
Said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., in a post on X: “I am heartbroken to learn that one of our own, Sarah Beckstrom, has tragically passed away following yesterday’s horrific attack in D.C. This is a devastating loss for her family, her fellow Guardsmen, and for our entire state.”
The soldiers had undergone emergency surgery after the attack and were listed in critical condition. Newsmax and other media outlets reported that Beckstrom had volunteered for the duty shift so fellow Guard members could spend Thanksgiving with their families. Trump used the moment to draw a direct line between the shooting and what he called the Biden administration’s disastrous and rushed Afghanistan evacuation, which brought tens of thousands of Afghans into the U.S. under emergency procedures. He held up a photo from the chaotic airlift in Kabul — Afghans clinging to a departing U.S. aircraft — telling the troops, “Here’s a picture — just take a look at that plane. This is what we had under the Biden administration.”
