The suspect who authorities say fatally shot a National Guard member and seriously wounded another in Washington, D.C., final month has now been charged in federal courtroom, the place the demise penalty will be thought-about, federal officers mentioned Wednesday.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan nationwide, has been newly charged by federal grievance with two firearm offenses, in response to the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the District of Columbia.
He stays charged within the federal grievance with first-degree homicide whereas armed, assault with intent to kill whereas armed, and two counts of possession of a firearm throughout a criminal offense of violence, in violation of the D.C. Code, the workplace mentioned. He had beforehand pleaded not responsible to these fees in D.C. Superior Court docket.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
U.S. Division of Justice
The switch of the case to federal courtroom “ensures that we will undertake the intense, deliberate, and weighty evaluation required to find out if the demise penalty is suitable right here,” U.S. Legal professional Jeanine Pirro mentioned in an announcement on Wednesday.
D.C. Superior Court docket, the place Lakanwal was initially charged within the days following the capturing, doesn’t have the demise penalty.
Two National Guard members from West Virginia have been shot within the head whereas on patrol on Nov. 26 within the nation’s capital in an “ambush-style” assault, in response to federal prosecutors. Military specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her accidents, officers mentioned. U.S. Air Pressure Workers Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was critically injured and “has an extended street forward in his restoration,” Pirro mentioned Wednesday.
A .357 Smith & Wesson revolver that had been reported stolen in Seattle, Washington, in 2023, was recovered from the scene of the capturing, federal prosecutors mentioned.
Lakanwal allegedly obtained the stolen revolver on Nov. 14 from a person who believed the suspect needed it for “private safety whereas working as a rideshare driver,” in response to the federal grievance. He then drove cross-country within the days earlier than the assault from Washington to D.C., in response to the grievance.
A makeshift memorial is seen on the location of final week’s capturing of two members of the Nationwide Guard December 1, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP by way of Getty Photos
The federal grievance, filed on Tuesday, alleges that Lakanwal transported a firearm that he had “cheap trigger to imagine was stolen” throughout state strains, and that he transported the gun with the intent to commit an offense punishable by imprisonment for a couple of yr.
The suspect has not but entered a plea to the federal fees, on-line data present.
Lakanwal, who had labored with the CIA in the course of the U.S. struggle in Afghanistan, came to the United States in 2021 , legislation enforcement sources mentioned. He utilized for asylum final yr and was granted it in April, in response to the sources.
