Twenty‑year‑old Sarah Beckstrom, a newly sworn‑in member of the West Virginia National Guard, was confirmed as the second guard critically wounded in Wednesday’s brutal ambush carried out by Afghan refugee Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who entered the United States during the chaotic 2021 withdrawal.
A female West Virginia National Guard member who was critically injured in what officials described as a cowardly ambush by an Afghan refugee on Wednesday had actually volunteered to work that day so her fellow guardsmen could spend Thanksgiving with their families.
US Attorney Jeanine Pirro identified the injured guardsman as 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom during a Thursday press conference.
Authorities earlier confirmed she was shot in both the chest and the head.
“She volunteered to be there on Thanksgiving — working today — she volunteers, as did many of those guardsmen and women, so other people could be home with their families,” US Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Fox News early Thursday, before Beckstrom was publicly named as the second victim.
“Now, their families are the ones sitting beside hospital beds as they fight to stay alive.”
The second wounded guard member had already been identified as 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe.
“Both Sarah and Andrew were sworn in less than 24 hours before they were shot on the street in Washington,” Pirro added.
Both underwent emergency surgery and remain in critical condition.
Investigators say they were gravely wounded when 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal allegedly opened fire near the Farragut West Metro Station in Northwest DC, in what authorities are now investigating as a potential terrorist attack.
“They’ve received excellent medical care. Their families are with them right now. Their condition is critical — and you know exactly what that means. We don’t know how this will end. But let me be absolutely clear about one thing: if either of them dies — and God forbid — this becomes a murder one case. Period,” Pirro said.
“We’re praying on a day when families across America gather and hold hands around Thanksgiving tables. I ask you, I urge you, to pray for these two young people and their survival.”
Bondi added that the charges against the suspected gunman will depend on Beckstrom and Wolfe’s recovery, but emphasized that investigators are working at “lightspeed” to uncover every fact in the case.
Officials say Lakanwal allegedly ambushed the two National Guard members near the White House, waiting before launching the attack.
He was eventually shot by other responding guard members.
His motive is still uncertain, but investigators are treating the shooting as a targeted terrorist act.
According to a relative who spoke with NBC News, Lakanwal previously served in the Afghan Army in Kandahar, supporting US Special Forces in the area.
He applied for asylum in December 2024 and was granted approval on April 23 of this year — and had no known criminal record, a Trump administration official told Reuters.
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