The United States President Donald Trump has said that Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, one of the two National Guard troops critically injured, has succumbed to her injuries.
Trump, late on Thursday evening, announced that, “She’s no longer with us. She’s looking down at us right now. Her parents are with her,” praising the late National Guard trooper as a “highly respected, young, magnificent person.”
Trump added that “US Air Force officer Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe is battling for his life in a hospital with critical injuries.” An Afghan gunman shot Beckstrom and Wolfe at close range while they were carrying out their routine patrol duty on Wednesday afternoon, just a few blocks away from the White House.
Also Read: Afghan man identified as suspect in shootout near White House
The suspect, who was also injured in the gunfight with other guardsmen, was taken into custody. The Department of Homeland Security identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, a resident of Afghanistan who entered the United States in 2021 under the special assistance programme created for vulnerable Afghans post-Taliban takeover of the country under the Biden administration.
Trump blamed the Biden administration for allowing Lakanwal into the US and has ordered an immediate halt to immigration requests from Afghanistan as a preventive measure.
Meanwhile, sources on Thursday claimed that Lakanwal, who shot at the troops, had worked as a special operative in Afghanistan alongside US armed forces against the Taliban.
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