National guard member wounded in DC attack is ‘slowly healing’, says West Virginia governor

The West Virginia national guard soldier who was wounded in the 26 November shooting that killed a colleague of his in Washington DC is “slowly healing”, according to West Virginia’s governor.Andrew Wolfe, 24, was shot alongside fellow West Virginia national guard soldier Sarah Beckstrom, 20, while they patrolled the US capital as part of the Trump administration’s push to deploy military members on to the city’s streets. Beckstrom died of her injuries the day after she was shot while Wolfe was hospitalized in critical condition.On Friday, West Virginia’s governor, Patrick Morrisey – who deployed the state’s national guard to Washington DC – said in a post on his website that Wolfe had been recovering, if slowly, from being shot in the head.“His parents report that his head wound is slowly healing and that he’s beginning to ‘look more like himself’,” the governor’s statement said of Wolfe. “Overall, the family expects that Andy will be in acute care for another 2-3 weeks but have been optimistic about his progress.”Wolfe joined the West Virginia national guard in 2019 and has earned multiple commendations since. He was deployed to Washington DC in August after the Trump administration announced what it billed as a “crime emergency” there, though the city had just reported a 30-year low in violent crime.The suspect in the deadly double shooting, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was formally charged on Tuesday for a number of crimes, including first-degree murder. Lakanwal is from Afghanistan and had entered the US in 2021 after the US military’s withdrawal from the country as the Taliban took power there again.Lakanwal worked with the CIA, within an Afghan counter-terrorism group called the “Zero Unit”. The unit was involved in secretive and dangerous missions to capture or assassinate suspected terrorists. Afghan strike forces, like so-called Zero Units, have been accused of human rights abuses.In the days after the shooting attributed to Lakanwal, the Trump administration announced a number of restrictive immigration policies. The White House at first announced it would be halting all asylum decisions and processes for Afghan nationals, blaming the preceding Biden administration for allowing Lakanwal into the country.Lakanwal was granted asylum in April, during Donald Trump’s second presidency.Then the administration announced it would be pausing immigration applications for people from 19 separate countries, including Afghanistan. The 19 countries were included in a Trump proclamation this June.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionMorrisey has fallen under criticism by his state’s Democratic lawmakers for deploying its national guard to Washington DC. Troops and other federal officials have reported finding relatively little crime in the city and instead have been assigned tasks such as picking up trash.West Virginia Democratic lawmaker Mike Pushkin said to National Public Radio that Wolfe and Beckstrom – who had been in the state’s national guard since 2023 – would not have been in harm’s “had it not been for the president calling in the national guard in this strange form of political theater”.After Wolfe and Beckstrom were attacked, another national guard soldier shot Lakanwal. Lakanwal made an initial court appearance on the charges filed against him through a video feed from his hospital bed.Federal officials have indicated that they expect to file more charges against Lakanwal. The US attorney general, Pam Bondi, said she was considering pursuing the death penalty against him. His next court date is tentatively set for 14 January.