In the aftermath of the ambush-style shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, DC, through which one was killed, the Trump administration has ordered additional crackdown on immigration. At the identical time, we’re studying extra concerning the victims and piecing collectively extra data on the suspect.
Here’s the newest:
• On the victims: The grieving father of 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom stated his “baby girl has passed to glory.” Her former boyfriend advised NCS that Beckstrom’s long-term purpose was to hitch the FBI. “She just wanted to be a part of the change, be a part of the difference, and help people out,” he stated. The different sufferer, National Guard member Andrew Wolfe, stays in critical condition after surgery.
• Potential cost: The 29-year-old alleged shooter Rahmanullah Lakanwal will face a murder charge following Beckstrom’s demise, in line with Jeanine Pirro, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia.
• The query of vetting: The suspect is an Afghan nationwide who labored with the CIA in Afghanistan and got here to the US in 2021 underneath a program following the US navy withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Trump administration has blamed the Biden administration for admitting the suspect into the nation. However, his utility for asylum was authorized this 12 months by the Trump administration, a number of legislation enforcement officers told NCS. Afghans admitted to the US underneath Operation Allies Welcome program did, in reality, undergo vetting along with background checks already required for working with US authorities companies.
• Immigration crackdown: Trump has ordered a evaluation of green-card holders from Afghanistan and different “countries of concern,” and the Department of Homeland Security stated yesterday it’ll evaluation all asylum circumstances that have been authorized underneath Biden. More than 190,000 Afghans have resettled within the US since August 2021, in line with the State Department.
• Piecing collectively extra data: The suspect lived in an condo complicated in Bellingham, Washington, together with his spouse, 5 youngsters and two nephews, in line with a neighbor who requested to stay nameless to guard his privateness. The suspect was a “simple and nice guy,” who attended a neighborhood mosque, the neighbor stated. But the suspect had not gone to the mosque in over two weeks, he added. The neighbor stated to his information, the suspect was unemployed and had been on the lookout for a job.
• Fear: Afghans throughout the nation are feeling “great fear” as Trump escalates his anti-immigration rhetoric, the president of a nonprofit that relocates and resettles Afghan individuals advised NCS immediately. Shawn VanDiver, the president of AfghanEvac, stated the suspect’s motion shouldn’t be consultant of the Afghan individuals who “absolutely decry what this man did,” VanDiver stated.
NCS’s Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Tala Alrajjal and Andy Rose contributed to this submit.