LIVE UPDATES: West Virginia governor gives updates since last week’s National Guard shooting

The Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard members blocks from the White House had been unraveling for years, unable to hold a job and flipping between long, lightless stretches of isolation and taking sudden weekslong cross-country drives. Rahmanullah Lakanwal’s behavior deteriorated so sharply that a community advocate reached out to a refugee organization for help, fearing he was becoming suicidal.

Emails obtained by The Associated Press reveal mounting warnings about the asylum-seeker whose erratic conduct raised alarms long before the attack that jolted the nation’s capital on Wednesday, the eve of Thanksgiving. The previously unreported concerns offer the clearest picture yet of how he was struggling in his new life in the United States.

Read the full story from The Associated Press.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey held a news briefing on Monday afternoon about the shooting of two National Guard members in D.C. last week.

“These are people that understand that the mission was good, that there was an opportunity to try to reduce crime in the District of Columbia. By all measures, it’s been working, and so I know that they’re proud of that work. They’re understandably going through a very, very difficult time right now, because they lost one of their own and another is in very serious condition,” Morrisey said.

Morrisey said he’s spoken with President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi, and are deferring the legal process to the executive branch.

“I believe that justice must be done in this case, and that justice will be meted out. It’ll be done based upon our criminal justice system, it’ll be done the right way,” he said.

Maj. Gen. James Seward, adjutant general of the West Virginia National Guard, spoke at the news briefing and said he could not “go into the details” about future planned operations about troops in the District.

The Trump administration has halted all asylum decisions and paused issuing visas for people traveling on Afghan passports, seizing on the National Guard shooting in Washington to intensify efforts to rein in legal immigration.

The suspect in Wednesday’s shooting near the White House that killed Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically wounded Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, both of the West Virginia National Guard, is facing charges including first-degree murder. Investigators are seeking to find a motive for the attack.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal is a 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War. He applied for asylum during the Biden administration and was granted it this year under President Donald Trump, according to a group that assists with resettlement of Afghans who helped U.S. forces in their country.

Read the full story from The Associated Press.

Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, the 20-year-old West Virginia National Guard member who was shot and killed in an ambush-style attack in Washington, D.C., is being remembered by former co-workers as energetic, funny and quick to laugh.

“Her co-workers would tell you she had a great sense of humor,” said Marcie Vaughan, CEO of Seneca Health Services. “She loved being part of the community. She would frequently go to events, engage others, and share resources that might positively impact their lives.”

Beckstrom was one of two members of the West Virginia National Guard who were shot in an ambush-style attack in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. The second victim, Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, underwent surgery on Wednesday and remains in critical condition. The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is believed to have acted alone.

Read more from CBS News. 

The suspect in the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard members, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was among more than 190,000 Afghans admitted into the U.S. following its withdrawal from Afghanistan, under programs designed to resettle those who helped the U.S. during its 20-year war in the country.

Over the course of more than a decade, sources told CNN, Lakanwal underwent numerous rounds of vetting — starting around 2011 by the CIA when he began working with the US military and intelligence agencies — and ending earlier this year when he was approved for permanent asylum in the U.S. by the Trump administration.

Read more from CNN here.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey said Friday that no West Virginia National Guard members deployed to Washington, D.C., have requested to return home in the wake of Wednesday’s shooting of two West Virginia Guard members that left one dead and the second critically wounded.

“I haven’t heard of anyone step back,” Morrisey told CBS News in an interview. “They wanted to stay. They wanted to complete the mission and serve their state and country.”

Back in August, at President Trump’s request, Morrisey was one of several Republican governors that deployed National Guard soldiers to D.C., with West Virginia sending somewhere between 300 and 400 Guard members.

According to the military’s Joint Task Force – District of Columbia, there are 180 West Virginia Guard members deployed in D.C. as of Friday. They are among about 1,300 out-of-state Guard troops that were dispatched to D.C. as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on crime in the city.

Read more from CBS News. 

Fasil Regassa wipes away tears when he talks about Sarah Beckstrom, the 20-year-old National Guard member who was shot Wednesday just a few feet away from his store.

“I cried when I heard she died,” Regassa told CNN.

For nine years, Regassa and his wife, immigrants from Ethiopia, have managed a 7-Eleven convenience store just across the street from the shooting scene. When the shooting started, Regassa said, he locked the front doors of his store and rushed the three or four customers inside to a back area for safety.

In the bustling downtown area of Washington, DC, blocks away from the White House and packed with tourists, chain restaurants, cafes, banks, stores and corporate offices, business community members are still processing the violence and chaos they experienced near the Farragut West Metro Station.

Read more from CNN. 

Days after the shooting that killed a National Guard member, D.C. police are working with other law enforcement agencies to figure out how to support the National Guard deployment moving forward, a police department official told WTOP.

Troops are expected to begin patrolling with D.C. police, according The Washington Post, which obtained a message sent to department leaders Wednesday night. The outlet reported the plan isn’t final and could change.

Read more from WTOP’s Scott Gelman.

The suspect accused of shooting two National Guard members Wednesday in D.C. is now facing a first-degree murder charge, following the death of one of the members.

Timothy Lauer, the director of external affairs for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C., confirmed the updated charge Friday to WTOP.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, had died, while Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was “fighting for his life.”

Read the full story. 

The U.S. will reexamine all green cards issued to people from 19 countries “of concern” at President Donald Trump’s direction, as the Trump administration intensifies its immigration crackdown following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C.

“At the direction of @POTUS, I have directed a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern,” Joe Edlow, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, wrote in a post on X Thursday.

Asked for additional details, including which countries are considered to be “of concern,” USCIS pointed CNN to 19 countries listed in a June presidential proclamation.

The 19 countries include Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

Read the full story from CNN.

President Donald Trump said that one of the two West Virginia National Guard members shot by an Afghan national near the White House had died, calling the shooter who had worked with the CIA in his native country a “savage monster.”

As part of his Thanksgiving call to U.S. troops, Trump said that he had just learned that Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, had died, while Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was “fighting for his life.”

“She’s just passed away,” Trump said. “She’s no longer with us. She’s looking down at us right now. Her parents are with her.”

The president called Beckstrom an “incredible person, outstanding in every single way.”

Read the full story from The Associated Press.

An Afghan national who worked with the CIA in his native country and immigrated to the U.S. in 2021 drove from Washington state to shoot National Guard members deployed in Washington, D.C., just blocks from the White House, U.S. officials said Thursday.

The suspect had worked in a special CIA-backed Afghan Army unit before emigrating from Afghanistan, according to a cousin who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Read more.

President Donald Trump, who ordered a broad review of all refugees who entered under former President Joe Biden two days ago, has called for further investigation into all Afghan refugees after Wednesday’s shooting.

The suspect in the shooting, identified as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is an Afghan national who entered the U.S. in September 2021 and has been living in Washington state.

“We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden,” Trump said in remarks from Mar-a-Lago. “We must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country.”

Read more about the order here. 

Watch Trump’s remarks below: 

U.S. Army Col. Larry Doane, commander of the National Guard task force in Washington, said in a statement posted on X, that the incident on Wednesday is “a burden that I wouldn’t wish on anyone”

“These Guardsmen came to the District from West Virginia to make their nation’s capital, safe and beautiful. They’re heroes,” he wrote. “I’d like to highlight the level of training, focus, and wherewithal it takes to see two of your own shot and have the presence of mind to subdue the suspect with no further incident.”

Read the full statement here.

Michael Ryan, a D.C. resident, said he was headed to lunch in the K Street area when he came across the scene shortly after the shooting and saw a National Guardsmen wounded.

“They were giving him first aid, trying to resuscitate him,” he told reporters of what he witnessed.

Ryan said he saw law enforcement had a man pinned on the ground and were yelling at him not to get up. He told CNN he had initially thought the gunshots were construction noises.

“We walked back and I saw broken glass at the bus stop and then that’s when we heard people yelling to stay down,” Ryan said.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said he spoke with President Donald Trump on Wednesday night after two of his state’s National Guard members were shot in Downtown D.C. in what officials said was a “targeted” attack.

Morrisey said he knows Trump stands behind his courageous service members and the state of West Virginia, and added they’ll work hard to ensure justice is served.

“This was an act of unspeakable violence,” Morrisey said. “Our hearts, our thoughts, our prayers go out to the brave service members, their families and the units who are enduring this terrible tragedy.”

Watch the full video message, posted on X, below:

Latest on the attack of West Virginia National Guard in Washington, DC. pic.twitter.com/jHNroebbFH

— Governor Patrick Morrisey (@wvgovernor) November 27, 2025

D.C.’s police union responded to Wednesday’s shooting of two National Guard members, saying whoever is responsible will face a vigorous prosecution.

“The shooting of two national guardsmen in DC is a despicable act. Our homicide detectives will ensure that whoever perpetrated this violence is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” the union wrote on X.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said he’s reached out to West Virginia’s governor and senators after two of the state’s National Guard members were shot Wednesday afternoon in D.C.

In a post on X, Moore said he’s praying for the guard members and condemns the violence.

Read the full post below:

Dawn and I are praying for the West Virginia National Guard members who were shot earlier today in Washington, D.C.

We condemn this violence in the strongest possible terms and we are holding the Guard, their families, and their loved ones close in our hearts.

I have reached…

— Governor Wes Moore (@GovWesMoore) November 26, 2025

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has filed a petition to the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. aiming to keep National Guard members in D.C., after a U.S. District Court judge ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to end the deployment.

Read the full petition here.

In a statement on X, Bondi called for prayer following the “horrific” shooting of two National Guard members in Downtown D.C.

“Violence is never the answer and must be swiftly condemned by all,” D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb wrote on social media.

“The National Guard are volunteers. They sign up to leave their regular jobs and families at a moment’s notice to serve their country. This is a heartbreaking day for DC and our nation. My thoughts are with the victims, their families, friends, and fellow Guardsmen,” Schwalb added.

See the full statement from Schwalb below:

Violence is never the answer and must be swiftly condemned by all.

The National Guard are volunteers. They sign up to leave their regular jobs and families at a moment’s notice to serve their country.

This is a heartbreaking day for DC and our nation. My thoughts are with the… https://t.co/z0i7yLYFct

— AG Brian Schwalb (@DCAttorneyGen) November 26, 2025

The Trump administration quickly ordered 500 more National Guard members to D.C. following the shooting of two National Guard members in the city on Wednesday afternoon, according to The Associated Press. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said President Donald Trump asked him to send the extra soldiers.

There are currently 2,188 troops assigned to the joint task force operating in the city, according to the government’s latest update.

As of early November, the D.C. National Guard had the largest number on the ground with 949. West Virginia was next with 416 guardsmen.

Read more from the Pentagon here.

Officials from the FBI and D.C. police, as well as D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, held a news conference Wednesday evening to provide the latest updates on the shooting of two National Guard members in Downtown D.C.

“Today’s attack on two members of the West Virginia National Guard was horrific and unconscionable. We can confirm that a suspect is in custody for this targeted shooting and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” Bowser said in a post on X.

Watch the full news conference below: