Suspect in Washington DC national guard shooting had ties to CIA, agency confirms | Washington DC

The agency has confirmed that the suspect who shot two National Guard members in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday was working with CIA-backed military units during the US war in Afghanistan.

The gunman, allegedly identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, arrived in the US in September 2021 as part of the Operation Allied Welcome program, which grants entry visas to the US for some Afghans working for the US government. He was granted asylum under the Trump administration in April this year, Reuters reported.

Lakanwal’s ties to the Central Intelligence Agency, which works with US special forces in Afghanistan, were confirmed to media outlets by CIA director John Ratcliffe.

The New York Times reported that the suspect in the shooting worked for several US government agencies in Afghanistan, including CIA-backed units in the southern province of Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold.

Washington Post, quoting anonymous sources, in question These CIA-backed units included counterterrorism teams known as “Zero Units” that engaged in combat missions to capture or kill suspected terrorists.

“The Biden administration justified bringing the alleged attacker to the United States in September 2021 because of his prior work with the U.S. government, including the CIA,” Ratcliffe told Fox News digital, adding that Lakanwal’s involvement with the agency was “as a member of the joint force in Kandahar, which ended shortly after the chaotic evacuation.”

The names of the two injured guard members were stated as Sarah Beckstrom (20) and Andrew Wolfe (24). Both are members of the West Virginia national guard and are listed in critical condition.

Both had taken their military oaths less than 24 hours before they were ambushed by the suspect at a bus stop.

Beckstrom’s father he told the New York Times in a phone conversation that her daughter’s chances of recovery are slim. “I’m holding his hand right now,” Gary Beckstrom said. “He has a mortal wound. There will be no healing.”

A man who reached Wolfe’s family home told the reporter: “All we need right now is to pray for my son.”

The suspect used a .357 Smith & Wesson pistol, shot a guard twice and then began shooting the second time, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., said at a news conference Thursday.

He said the two injured national guardsmen “risked their lives to protect people they didn’t even know.”

He said other national guardsmen at the scene engaged and neutralized the suspect.

It was learned that the suspect was detained and treated at the hospital.

Pirro said he traveled across the United States from his home in Bellingham, Washington, with a plan to carry out a “brazen and targeted” attack.

Lakanwal faces three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, the prosecutor said. Pirro said charges could be upgraded to first-degree murder if the national guardsman does not survive.

FBI director Kash Patel said at the press conference that the agency was investigating the attack as an act of terrorism. Law enforcement had executed search warrants at the suspect’s homes in Washington and San Diego, California.

“This is a coast-to-coast investigation,” Patel said.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, who criticized the Trump administration’s deployment of national guards to the region, said, “These young people should be at home with their families in West Virginia.”

Patel also confirmed the suspect’s relationship with US forces in Afghanistan. He said the investigation will include all known associates of the suspect abroad and in the United States.

Patel said the suspect was in the U.S. “for one simple reason — the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal (from Afghanistan) and its failure to vet this individual and countless others.”

But while administration officials blamed Biden for the lack of investigation, Reuters reported that the alleged gunman was granted asylum under the Trump administration this year.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it stopped processing residency applications from Afghan citizens following the attack.

“Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests for Afghan citizens has been suspended indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols,” the agency said. he said on social media.

Following the conflict, Donald Trump ordered 500 additional national guard troops to Washington. The president called the attack an “act of terrorism” and called immigration “the greatest national security threat facing our nation.”