The two heroic National Guardmen shot Wednesday by a crazed Afghan man while deployed to secure Washington, D.C., have been identified.
The service members are West Virginia National Guardsmen, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe, 24, United States Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro revealed during a press conference Thursday morning.
Both Beckstrom and Wolfe “were sworn in less than 24 hours before they were shot on the street in Washington,” Pirro said.
“They were uniformed members of the West Virginia National Guard, and they were in DC to keep DC safe pursuant to President Trump’s executive order to make DC safe and beautiful,” Pirro said.
“They answered the call, they took the charge, they volunteered, they put their lives on the line for people they don’t even know, and that unfortunately is becoming a reality more and more for the members of law enforcement,” she said.
Beckstrom had volunteered to work the Thanksgiving holiday so that her fellow soldiers could go home to their families, Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News Thursday.
“She volunteered to be there on Thanksgiving, working today,” Bondi said. “She volunteered, as did many of those guardsmen and women, so other people could be home with their families. Yet, now, their families are in hospital rooms with them while they are fighting for their lives.”
Beckstrom and Wolfe both emerged from surgery on Thursday and remain in critical condition.
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This morning, we can confirm that my constituent Andrew Wolfe, 24, from Berkeley County, and his fellow National Guardsman Sarah Beckstrom, 20, have successfully made it through surgery but are still in critical condition. Their families are with them in the hospital.
I am… pic.twitter.com/brcCRe0Ftm
— Rep. Riley M. Moore (@RepRileyMoore) November 27, 2025
“They’re receiving the finest medical care, their families are with them now,” Pirro said.
“They are critical … it’s not clear how this is gonna end up, but let me be perfectly clear about how it will end up in this office. If one of them is to pass, and God forbid that happens, this is a murder one, period, end of the story. We are praying on a day like today when families come together in America, and they hold hands around the Thanksgiving table, I beg you, I beseech you to pray for these two young people that they survive,” she said.
The suspect, Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, entered the United States in 2021 as part of President Joe Biden’s “Operation Allies Welcome,” which allowed roughly 77,000 Afghan nationals into the country during the botched withdrawal of American troops, the Department of Homeland Security told The Daily Wire late Wednesday.
Lakanwal is now charged with three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. He faces 15 years in prison for assault with the intent to kill.
If either one of the two soldiers succumbs to their injuries, the federal government will seek charges of murder in the first degree against the suspect, making him eligible for the death penalty.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump described the attack as a “monstrous ambush,” blaming the Biden administration for waving the alleged shooter into the U.S.
“This attack underscores the single greatest national security threat facing our nation. The last administration let in 20 million unknown and unvetted foreigners from all over the world,” Trump said.
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