Two National Guardsmen are in critical condition after being shot in Washington, DC.
Mayor Muriel Bowser took to social media to call the attack a “targeted shooting”, in a post on X and confirmed the two men shot were part of the West Virginia National Guard.
The Department of Homeland Security identified the suspect involved in the shooting that left two National Guard members in critical condition as Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
“I can report tonight that based on the best available information, the Department of Homeland Security is confident that the suspect in custody is a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan — a hell hole on earth," U.S. President Donald Trump said in a video message.
He went on to condemn the “heinous assault" as an “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror” as well as request that 500 more National Guard troops be deployed to DC.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed via X that “processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely”, effective immediately and pending further review.
Shawn VanDiver, the president of AfghanEvac, a not-for-profit organisation helping relocate and settle Afghan people, called on people not to condemn the nation or Afghan community at large for "the deranged choice this person made.”
“AfghanEvac rejects any attempt to leverage this tragedy as a political ploy to isolate or harm Afghans who have resettled in the United States", VanDiver said.
“Those who would twist this moment to attack Afghan families aren’t seeking safety or justice — they’re exploiting division and endangering all of us.”
