One of the National Guard members ambushed by a gunman just four blocks from the White House has died of her injuries, President Trump said Thursday.
Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died a day after she and another Guard member were targeted by an assailant in the nation’s capital.
“She’s just passed away. She’s no longer with us,” Mr. Trump said in a live address Thanksgiving night. “She’s looking down at us right now.”
Spc. Beckstrom’s father had said earlier Thursday that chances were slim that his daughter would survive the bullet wounds to her head and chest.
“I’m holding her hand right now,” Gary Beckstrom told The New York Times. “She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery.”
Spc. Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, suffered severe injuries in the Wednesday afternoon shooting near the Farragut West Metro station downtown.
Sgt. Wolfe continues to fight for his life at a hospital Thursday evening. Both Guardsmen deployed from West Virginia in August to assist with Mr. Trump’s crime-fighting mission in the District.
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said he had met Thursday with the victims and their families and other members of his state’s Guard.
“Sarah served with courage, extraordinary resolve, and an unwavering sense of duty to her state and to her nation. She answered the call to serve, stepped forward willingly, and carried out her mission with the strength and character that define the very best of the West Virginia National Guard,” he said in a statement after her death.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Webster Springs, where Spc. Beckstrom is from, will hold three prayer vigils Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, according to a Facebook post from the Webster County Veterans Auxiliary.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro had announced assault with intent to kill charges Thursday morning against suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal, but said the death of one of the soldiers would change that.
“Let me be perfectly clear about how it will end up in this office if one of them is to pass, and God forbid that happens, this is a murder one: period, end of the story,” Ms. Pirro said.
A murder conviction could make the death penalty a possibility — an avenue in which Attorney General Pam Bondi expressed interest in when she spoke with Fox News.
Mr. Lakanwal, 29, came to the U.S. as a refugee in 2021 following the American military’s withdrawal. He worked in a CIA-run shadow unit that fought the Taliban in his native country, officials said.
“These guardsmen and all who are here to protect the District are the line that separates a civilized society from a barbaric one, they are the ones who stand for law and order,” Ms. Pirro said. “This was not just an attack, it was a direct challenge to law and order in our nation’s capital, and this individual will be made fully accountable.”
Authorities said the suspect drove across the country to carry out the ambush on troops patrolling the District.
The shooter opened fire on one of the Guard members with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver, leaned over and shooting again, and then shot the other before a fellow soldier downed the assailant with a firearm.
FBI Director Kash Patel referred to the shooting as an “act of terrorism” and said his agency continues to investigate possible links to terrorism that can be proven in court.
Staff Sgt. Wolfe and Spc. Beckstrom are part of the more than 2,200 National Guard members who came to the District for the Trump administration’s crackdown on violence and disorder.
Mr. Trump ordered 500 more National Guard troops to the nation’s capital in light of Wednesday’s shooting, less than a month after the Defense Department extended the Guard’s deployment through the end of February.
The surge of Guard members and federal agents brought about a sharp drop in killings, carjackings and muggings during Mr. Trump’s initial 30-day emergency this summer. Metropolitan Police data shows violent crime is down 28% so far this year.
Last week, a federal judge ruled the National Guard’s presence in the District was illegal because they were being used for “non-military, crime deterrence” purposes.
The ruling, which stemmed from a lawsuit filed by D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, seeks to end the deployment that D.C. leaders have ridiculed ever since troops from several Republican-led states began arriving in August.
But Army Gen. Leland D. Blanchard, head of the D.C. National Guard, said Thursday that the troops are more committed to their mission after seeing two of the fellow soldiers be wounded in action.
“Our resolve will be tested — it is being tested — but make no mistake, each and every one of these soldiers and airmen will meet and exceed the expectation that we have for them,” Gen. Blanchard said. “I pray for each and every one of them today, and in particular, for these two young service members who are willing to go above and beyond and pay whatever price our nation has to them.”
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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