The suspect who authorities say fatally shot a National Guard member and seriously wounded another in Washington, D.C., final month has now been charged in federal courtroom, the place the dying penalty may be thought of, federal officers stated Wednesday.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan nationwide, has been newly charged by federal grievance with two firearm offenses, in keeping with the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the District of Columbia.
He stays charged within the federal grievance with first-degree homicide whereas armed, assault with intent to kill whereas armed, and two counts of possession of a firearm throughout a criminal offense of violence, in violation of the D.C. Code, the workplace stated. He had previously pleaded not guilty to these prices in D.C. Superior Courtroom.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
U.S. Division of Justice
The switch of the case to federal courtroom “ensures that we will undertake the intense, deliberate, and weighty evaluation required to find out if the dying penalty is suitable right here,” U.S. Legal professional Jeanine Pirro stated in a press release on Wednesday.
D.C. Superior Courtroom, the place Lakanwal was initially charged within the days following the taking pictures, doesn’t have the dying penalty.
Two National Guard members from West Virginia have been shot within the head whereas on patrol on Nov. 26 within the nation’s capital in an “ambush-style” assault, in keeping with federal prosecutors. Military specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her accidents, officers stated. U.S. Air Power Employees Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was critically injured and “has an extended highway forward in his restoration,” Pirro stated Wednesday.
A .357 Smith & Wesson revolver that had been reported stolen in Seattle, Washington, in 2023, was recovered from the scene of the taking pictures, federal prosecutors stated.
Lakanwal allegedly obtained the stolen revolver on Nov. 14 from a person who believed the suspect needed it for “private safety whereas working as a rideshare driver,” in keeping with the federal grievance. He then drove cross-country within the days earlier than the assault from Washington to D.C., in keeping with the grievance.
A makeshift memorial is seen on the location of final week’s taking pictures of two members of the Nationwide Guard December 1, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
The federal grievance, filed on Tuesday, alleges that Lakanwal transported a firearm that he had “cheap trigger to imagine was stolen” throughout state strains, and that he transported the gun with the intent to commit an offense punishable by imprisonment for a couple of yr.
The suspect has not but entered a plea to the federal prices, on-line data present.
Lakanwal, who had labored with the CIA in the course of the U.S. conflict in Afghanistan, came to the United States in 2021, regulation enforcement sources stated. He utilized for asylum final yr and was granted it in April, in keeping with the sources.
