Two National Guard members are in critical condition at separate hospitals after a shooting described by Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser as a targeted attack.
The suspect has been identified by law enforcement officials as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national, but authorities were still working to fully confirm his background and immigration status. He is hospitalized after being shot but his injuries are not considered life threatening.
Identifications of the Guardsmen have not yet been released.
Two law enforcement officials and one person with knowledge said Lakanwal was believed to have entered the U.S. in 2021 and has been living in Washington state.
Jeffrey Carroll, an executive assistant D.C. police chief, said investigators had no information on a motive. He said the assailant “came around the corner” and immediately started firing at the troops, citing video reviewed by investigators.
More than 70,000 Afghans were brought to the United States in 2021 through the Biden administration’s evacuation and resettlement program after the fall of Kabul. Only a small fraction of those evacuees were protected by Temporary Protective Status, or TPS. Biden extended protected status in September 2023, but Trump terminated protective status in May 2025, deeming Afghanistan safe for them to return.
Trump’s termination put 9,000 to 11,000 Afghans at risk of losing legal status. A larger group of Afghans came in to the U.S. on humanitarian parole, bringing the Afghan-born population in the U.S. to around 200,000.