The suspected shooter of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., had “not been functional as a person, father and provider” for years, a series of emails revealed in a new report details.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Sarah Beckstrom. Guard member Andrew Wolfe was also critically injured in the attack. Both belonged to the West Virginia National Guard. The Associated Press report on the emails comes as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi have said the suspect was “radicalized” in the United States.
The report details emails sent from Lakanwal’s community members to the nonprofit group U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. One email said he has “not been functional as a person, father and provider since March of last year, 03/2023. He quit his job that month, and his behavior has changed greatly,” according to the report.
The report details that Lakanwal had “manic episodes,” went through “periods of dark isolation,” and his neighbors worried about his potential to harm himself. The report adds that Lakanwal struggled to assimilate after fleeing his home country of Afghanistan to Bellingham, Washington, with his wife and five children.
Lakanwal, who served in the CIA’s “Zero Unit” in Afghanistan, came to the United States in September 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome. He entered under the Biden administration, and his asylum was approved under the Trump administration
The report of the emails comes as Noem and Bondi announced Sunday morning that Lakanwal was “radicalized” in the United States, with more information forthcoming.
“We know that this shooter who shot our National Guardsmen in D.C. the day before Thanksgiving, he was radicalized, you’re going to hear a lot more about that,” Bondi said on Fox News Sunday.
NOEM SAYS BIDEN ‘COMPLETELY DID NOT VET’ DC SHOOTING SUSPECT GRANTED ASYLUM UNDER TRUMP
“I will say we believe he was radicalized since he’s been here in this country. We do believe it was through connections in his home community and state, and we’re going to continue to talk to those who interacted with him, who were his family members,” Noem said on NBC’s Meet the Press.
The FBI declined to comment on the investigation when contacted by the Washington Examiner.
