Two West Virginia National Guardsmen remained in critical condition after they were shot near the White House, in what Washington mayor Muriel Bowser described as a targeted attack. President Donald Trump condemned the incident as an act of terror and a heinous assault. Authorities identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who entered the United States in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome. According to officials, he applied for asylum in 2024 and received approval from the Trump administration in April 2025. Shortly after Trump addressed the nation, the US immigration agency announced an indefinite halt to all Afghan-related immigration cases while security and vetting procedures undergo review.

The administration also requested the deployment of another 500 National Guard members to Washington and appealed a federal court ruling that had ordered the removal of Guard units from the capital. The two wounded Guardsmen had been sent from West Virginia as part of Trump’s expanded security mission in the city. In a recorded message from Florida, Trump linked the shooting to what he called failures in migrant vetting under the previous administration and said the episode highlighted what he views as the greatest national security threat facing the country. He also broadened the message into a wider warning about immigration, criticizing the intake of migrants from various regions and referring to the large numbers who entered the US under Biden.

Details about the suspect’s immigration background resurfaced throughout the evening. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Lakanwal had been paroled into the country in September 2021 under the Biden administration, while Trump emphasized that the individual originated from Afghanistan. Lakanwal’s initial arrival came as part of Operation Allies Welcome, a program launched in August 2021 to safeguard Afghans who faced risk after the US withdrawal. The initiative allowed many arrivals to stay in the country for two years, and a substantial portion qualified for Special Immigrant Visas for assisting American forces. Over 190,000 Afghans eventually resettled under the program, which was later renamed Enduring Welcome. Since taking office, Trump has sharply restricted refugee admissions and cut funding for Afghan support programs.

The commander of the Joint Task Force responsible for coordinating Guard operations in Washington expressed sympathy for the injured troops, calling them heroes and praising the composure of those who subdued the suspect. Witnesses described chaotic scenes near a holiday market, with Secret Service agents sealing streets and emergency crews aiding one Guardsman whose face was covered in blood. One bystander recounted being told to run before taking shelter in a cafe while authorities converged on the area.

As political reactions intensified, advocacy groups urged restraint. The head of a nonprofit assisting Afghan resettlement condemned the violence but warned against blaming the broader Afghan community. He said the suspect’s actions should not be used to stigmatize families who rebuilt their lives in the US and insisted that exploiting the incident for political purposes risked deepening divisions.

Trump took on a somber tone in a later address, delivered without reporters present. He once again described the suspect as a foreigner who entered from Afghanistan and used the moment to criticize the Biden administration’s handling of the 2021 withdrawal. He reiterated claims about millions of unvetted migrants entering the country during Biden’s tenure and called for a review of every Afghan who arrived in that period. He also targeted migrant communities from Somalia, framing them as a burden on Minnesota and characterizing their country of origin in stark terms. The speech, aired on the White House’s official channel, underscored how quickly the shooting became embedded in the broader national argument over immigration.