(NewsNation) — The suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., will face a first-degree murder charge, D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro confirmed.
Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries, while Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe remains in critical condition.
Suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal is an Afghan national who worked alongside U.S. forces in his country.
His full list of charges now includes the murder charge, three counts of possessing a firearm during a violent crime and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed.
According to investigators, Lakanwal drove across the country from his home in Washington state to commit what authorities said was a targeted shooting. A motive is still under investigation.
Lakanwal previously worked with the U.S. government, including the CIA, “as a member of a partner force in Kandahar that ended in 2021 following the withdrawal from Afghanistan,” a CIA spokesperson confirmed Thursday to NewsNation.
He was in the U.S. under a Biden-era program that helped evacuate and resettle Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal, many of them people who had assisted U.S. troops. He was then granted asylum under the Trump administration.
The shooting has been described as an ambush-style attack, with the suspect rounding the corner near a Metro station and immediately firing upon the two Guard members. Other National Guard members responded and subdued him.
The shooting took place a few blocks from the White House, although President Donald Trump was not in residence at the time.
In the wake of the shooting, Trump ordered an additional 500 National Guard members deployed to D.C.