He came around the corner, drew a weapon, and fired immediately.
On the eve of Thanksgiving, two National Guard soldiers standing watch near the White House were ambushed in a sudden, deliberate attack that sent tremors through the capital and far beyond it. The suspect, an Afghan immigrant who had once served alongside American Special Forces, carried no prior criminal record — making the act all the more difficult to place within familiar narratives of threat and belonging. As investigators search for motive, the shooting has become a mirror in which the nation's unresolved tensions over immigration, military presence in civilian life, and the meaning of loyalty are all reflected at once.
- Two West Virginia National Guard soldiers were shot in a targeted ambush outside a subway station blocks from the White House, both rushed to hospitals in critical condition.
- The suspect — a 29-year-old Afghan veteran who had worked with U.S. Special Forces and entered the country through a refugee resettlement program — had no criminal history, leaving investigators scrambling to understand what drove the attack.
- The FBI's joint terrorism task force seized the investigation within hours, while President Trump declared the shooting an act of terror and vowed to re-examine all Afghan admissions from the previous administration.
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services halted all Afghan immigration processing indefinitely, and Defense Secretary Hegseth announced 500 additional Guard troops would be deployed to Washington — a city already hosting over 2,000.
- The attack landed in the middle of an ongoing legal and political battle over Trump's deployment of Guard troops to Democrat-led cities, intensifying arguments on all sides about immigration vetting, military policing, and who bears the cost of these unresolved debates.
On a Wednesday afternoon in late November, two National Guard soldiers from West Virginia were standing watch outside a subway entrance just blocks from the White House when a man came around the corner and opened fire without warning. Both were struck and hospitalized in critical condition. The gunman, wounded in the exchange that followed, was subdued by other Guard troops and arrested at the scene.
The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was a 29-year-old Afghan national living in Washington state. He had entered the United States in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program for Afghans who had aided American forces and faced Taliban retaliation after the U.S. withdrawal. A relative told NBC News he had spent ten years in the Afghan army, including a posting in Kandahar alongside U.S. Special Forces. He had no known criminal record and had been working for Amazon. His asylum application, filed in December 2024, had been approved just months into Trump's second term.
President Trump, at his Florida resort when the attack occurred, released a video statement calling it an act of evil and terror, and announced his administration would re-examine all Afghans admitted under the previous government. Within days, immigration processing for Afghan nationals was halted indefinitely. Vice President Vance used the moment to call for intensified deportations, while critics argued the administration's immigration crackdowns had already swept up people with no criminal history and legal status alike.
The shooting arrived amid a charged political backdrop. Trump had deployed National Guard troops to Washington in August over the mayor's objections, and a federal judge had only days earlier temporarily blocked the Guard from performing law enforcement duties in the district. In response to the attack, Defense Secretary Hegseth announced 500 additional troops would be sent to the capital, adding to the more than 2,000 already there. As investigators worked to reconstruct Lakanwal's movements and state of mind, the incident had already hardened the fault lines around immigration, national security, and the expanding role of military forces in American civic life.
On a Wednesday afternoon in late November, two National Guard soldiers from West Virginia were standing watch outside a subway station entrance just blocks from the White House when a man came around the corner and opened fire. The attack was sudden and deliberate—what police called an ambush. Both soldiers were hit and rushed to hospitals in critical condition. The gunman, wounded in the exchange of fire that followed, was subdued by other Guard troops and arrested at the scene.
The suspect was identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national living in Washington state. Within hours, the FBI's joint terrorism task force took over the investigation, searching for answers about what motivated the shooting. Lakanwal had no known criminal history. He had entered the United States in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a program created during the Biden administration to resettle Afghans who had worked alongside American forces during the war and feared retaliation from the Taliban after the U.S. withdrawal. According to an unnamed relative who spoke to NBC News, Lakanwal had served ten years in the Afghan army, including a posting in Kandahar where he worked with U.S. Special Forces. More recently, he had been employed by Amazon.
The shooting set off immediate reverberations through the capital and beyond. President Trump, who was at his Florida resort when the attack occurred, released a prerecorded video statement calling it "an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror." He announced that his administration would "re-examine" all Afghans admitted during the previous administration. Within days, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services halted processing of all immigration requests from Afghan nationals indefinitely, pending what the agency called a further review of security and vetting protocols. A Trump administration official revealed that Lakanwal had applied for asylum in December 2024 and been approved on April 23, 2025—three months into Trump's second term.
The incident occurred against a backdrop of escalating tension over Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to major American cities. The president had ordered Guard soldiers into Washington in August, citing crime and public safety concerns, despite objections from Mayor Muriel Bowser and legal challenges from District of Columbia officials who argued the deployment violated local authority. Just five days before the shooting, a federal judge had temporarily blocked the Guard from performing law enforcement duties in the district without the mayor's approval, though she paused that order until December to allow the administration time to appeal. The shooting came as Trump was also deploying Guard troops in Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, and Memphis—all cities led by Democrats who accused him of using the deployments as political theater.
In response to Wednesday's attack, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Trump had requested an additional 500 National Guard troops be sent to the capital, on top of the more than 2,000 already mobilized there. Vice President JD Vance, speaking from Kentucky, used the incident to justify the administration's immigration stance, saying on social media that the shooting proved the need to "redouble our efforts to deport people with no right to be in our country." Critics of Trump's immigration policies countered that the administration had employed harsh tactics that swept up immigrants indiscriminately, including people with no criminal records and others in the country legally.
Washington's police leadership described the shooting as a targeted attack. Jeff Carroll, executive assistant chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, said the two soldiers had been on a "high-visibility patrol" when the suspect "came around the corner," drew a weapon, and fired immediately. The exchange of gunfire that followed left the shooter wounded before he was taken into custody. The Secret Service placed the White House under immediate security lockdown as a precaution. As investigators worked to piece together Lakanwal's movements and state of mind in the days and weeks before the attack, the incident had already reshaped the political landscape around immigration, national security, and the role of military forces in American cities.
Notable Quotes
An act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror.— President Trump, describing the shooting
We must redouble our efforts to deport people with no right to be in our country.— Vice President JD Vance, on social media
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why would someone who served alongside American forces turn on them like this?
That's what investigators are trying to understand. He had a decade in the Afghan army, worked with U.S. Special Forces, came here through a program designed to protect people like him. On the surface, nothing obvious explains it.
Do we know anything about his state of mind before the shooting?
Not yet. He was working at Amazon, living quietly in Washington state. No criminal record. The relative who spoke to the press hadn't heard from him in months. There's a gap there—something happened in that silence.
The timing feels deliberate. Right near the White House, right when Guard troops are deployed there.
It does read that way. Police called it an ambush, which suggests planning. But whether that planning was political, personal, or something else entirely—that's still an open question.
How does this change the conversation about Afghan resettlement?
It's already changed it. The administration halted all Afghan immigration processing indefinitely. One incident, and thousands of pending cases are frozen. That's the immediate consequence.
Is there a risk this becomes a cudgel in a larger political fight?
It already is. The Vice President used it to justify deportation policy within hours. Democrats say the administration is using isolated incidents to justify sweeping measures. The shooting itself becomes secondary to what people want it to mean.