National Guard member dies after attack near White House

President Donald Trump said Thursday that Sarah Beckstrom, one of the National Guard members shot in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, has died.

"Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia, one of the guardsmen that we're talking about, highly respected, young, magnificent person, started service in June of 2023 outstanding in every way," Trump said in a Thanksgiving call to service members.

"She's just passed away."

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The death of Beckstrom, 20, comes after she and US Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, were injured in an "ambush style" shooting just blocks away from the White House on Thanksgiving Eve.

The two members were called to the nation's capital in August as National Guard troops from multiple states responded to Trump's surge of federal law enforcement in the area.

Federal and local authorities, their West Virginia neighbours and their loved ones called for prayers.

Wolfe remained in critical condition Thursday.

"Please keep my son in your prayers," Wolfe's father, Jason Wolfe, told CNN.

His son is "a great person" and "he's a fighter," he shared.

Attack being investigated as terrorist act

FBI Director Kash Patel said the shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism. Agents have served a series of search warrants, with Patel calling it a "coast-to-coast investigation".

The shot guard members had been sworn in less than 24 hours before they were attacked

"We have been in constant contact with their families and have provided them with every resource needed during this difficult time," Pirro said.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser interpreted the shooting as a direct assault on America itself, rather than specifically on Trump's policies.

"Somebody drove across the country and came to Washington, DC, to attack America," Bower said.

"That person will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

Suspect worked with CIA during Afghanistan War

The 29-year-old suspect, an Afghan national, entered the US in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the US withdrawal from the country, officials said.

The initiative brought roughly 76,000 people to the US, many of whom had worked alongside US troops and diplomats as interpreters and translators.

It has since faced intense scrutiny from Trump and his allies, congressional Republicans and some government watchdogs over gaps in the vetting process and the speed of admissions, even as advocates say it offered a lifeline to people at risk of Taliban reprisals.

Lakamal has been living in Bellingham, Washington, about 127 kilometres north of Seattle, with his wife and five children, said his former landlord, Kristina Widman.

Prior to his 2021 arrival in the United States, the suspect worked with the US government, including the CIA, "as a member of a partner force in Kandahar," John Ratcliffe, the spy agency's director, said in a statement. He did not specify what work Lakamal did, but said the relationship "ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation" of US service members from Afghanistan.

Kandahar in southern Afghanistan is in the Taliban heartland of the country. It saw fierce fighting between the Taliban and NATO forces after the US-led invasion in 2001 following the al-Qaeda attacks on September 11. The CIA relied on Afghan staff for translation, administrative and frontline fighting with their own paramilitary officers in the war.

Wednesday night, in a video message released on social media, US President Donald Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who entered under the Biden administration.

"If they can't love our country, we don't want them," he said, adding that the shooting was "a crime against our entire nation".

Jeffery Carroll, an executive assistant DC police chief, said on Wednesday investigators had no information on a motive. He said the assailant "came around the corner" and immediately started firing at the troops, citing video reviewed by investigators.

"This was a targeted shooting," Mayor Bowser said.

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