By Jeff Mason and Jasper Ward
PALM BEACH, Florida/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A National Guard member died on Thursday after being shot near the White House in an ambush that investigators say was carried out by an Afghan national, an attack President Donald Trump blamed on Biden-era immigration vetting failures as he ordered a sweeping review of asylum cases.
Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died of her wounds and her fellow Guardsman Andrew Wolfe, 24, was "fighting for his life," Trump said, as investigators conducted what officials said was a terrorism probe after Wednesday's shooting.
The FBI searched multiple properties in a widening investigation, including a home in Washington state linked to the suspect, who officials said was part of a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan before coming to the U.S. in 2021 under a resettlement program.
Agents seized numerous electronic devices from the residence of the suspect, identified as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, including cellphones, laptops, and iPads, and interviewed his relatives, FBI Director Kash Patel told a news conference.
U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. Jeanine Pirro said the suspect drove cross-country and then ambushed the Guard members while they were patrolling near the White House on Wednesday afternoon.
"I want to express the anguish and the horror of our entire nation that the terrorist attack yesterday in our nation's capital, in which a savage monster gunned down two service members in the West Virginia National Guard, who were deployed as part of the DC Task Force," Trump said in a Thanksgiving call with U.S. military service members.
Casting blame on the administration of his White House predecessor, President Joe Biden, Trump said the alleged gunman, who he described as having gone "cuckoo," was among thousands of Afghans who came in unvetted as the U.S. carried out a chaotic withdrawal in 2021. He provided no evidence to support his assertion.
Trump said the suspect's "atrocity reminds us that we have no greater national security priority than ensuring that we have full control over the people that enter and remain in our country."
Armed with a powerful revolver, a .357 Magnum, the gunman shot the two National Guard members before being wounded in an exchange of gunfire with other troops. He was in hospital in serious condition, Trump said.
"My baby girl has passed to glory,” Gary Beckstrom, father of the National Guard member who died, wrote on social media, adding that his family was grappling with a "horrible tragedy." Trump later spoke by phone to Beckstrom's parents, a White House official said.
SUSPECTED ASSAILANT ACTED ALONE
The alleged assailant, who lived in Washington state with his wife and five children, appeared to have acted alone, said Jeff Carroll, executive assistant chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.
Asked whether he was planning to deport the suspect's wife and five children who live in Washington state, Trump said, "We're looking at the whole situation with family."
The program under which the suspect entered the U.S., which allowed in more than 70,000 Afghan nationals, according to a congressional report, was designed with vetting procedures, including by U.S. counter-terrorism and intelligence agencies. But the large scale and rushed nature of the evacuations led critics to say the background checks were inefficient.
Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News the U.S. government planned to bring terrorism charges against the gunman and seek a sentence of life in prison "at a minimum." Following the death of the National Guard member, she suggested she would seek the death penalty.
At the press conference, Patel described the shootings as a "heinous act of terrorism," but neither he nor Pirro offered a possible motive.
Speaking to reporters, Trump echoed Pirro and Patel's accusations that the Biden administration was to blame for policies they said allowed the Afghan immigrant into the U.S., but they also offered no evidence to support their assertions
The alleged gunman was granted asylum this year under Trump, according to a U.S. government file on him seen by Reuters.
Trump did not dispute that, but told reporters, "When it comes to asylum, when they're flown in, it's very hard to get them out. No matter how you want to do it, it's very hard to get them out, but we're going to be getting them all out now."
The incident may give Trump, who has made cracking down on both legal and illegal immigration a centerpiece of his presidency, an opening to argue that even legal pathways like asylum pose security risks for Americans.
Less than 24 hours after the shooting, Trump officials began ordering widespread reviews of immigration policies.
The Trump administration was launching a review of all asylum cases approved under the Biden administration as well as Green Cards issued to citizens of 19 countries, Department of Homeland Security officials said.
MEMBER OF CIA-BACKED FORCE
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement that Lakanwal had worked with CIA-backed local units in Afghanistan, but gave no further details.
The New York Times, citing unnamed officials, identified the CIA-backed force as a Zero Unit, trained and supported by the U.S. spy agency in the southern province of Kandahar.
The units comprised a paramilitary group trained to conduct night raids and clandestine missions during the U.S. war in Afghanistan and, with thousands of members, had officially become part of the Afghan intelligence service by the time the U.S. withdrew its troops, the Times said.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program to resettle thousands of Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the Afghanistan war and feared reprisals from Taliban forces who seized control after the U.S. withdrawal there.
“The Biden Administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. Government,” Ratcliffe said in a statement. “This individual - and so many others - should have never been allowed to come here.”
A Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved on April 23 this year, three months after Trump took office. Lakanwal, who resided in Washington state, had no known criminal history, the official said.
The two Guard members from West Virginia were part of a militarized law enforcement mission ordered by Trump in August and challenged in court by Washington, D.C., officials.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson, Jeff Mason, Lucia Mutikani, Jasper Ward, Tim Reid and Jana Winter; Writing by Julia Harte, Rod Nickel and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Ross Colvin, Deepa Babington and Diane Craft)
