Editor’s observe: The West Virginia governor initially mentioned that the two Guard members had died however has since mentioned there may be conflicting details about their situations.
Two Nationwide Guard members from West Virginia had been in vital situation Wednesday after a gunman opened hearth on them in an obvious “focused capturing” close to the White Home, officers mentioned.
In an handle Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump referred to as the capturing “an act of evil, an act of hatred and and an act of terror,” including, “It was against the law towards our complete nation.”
Trump, citing info from the Division of Homeland Safety, mentioned the suspect entered the U.S. from Afghanistan in September 2021, and criticized the prior administration of President Joe Biden.
President Donald Trump delivers remarks on the assault in Washington on the Nationwide Guard troopers throughout an handle from Palm Seashore, Fla., Nov. 26, 2025.
The White Home
Trump mentioned the capturing “underscores the one biggest nationwide safety risk going through our nation,” saying the U.S. “should now reexamine each single alien from Afghanistan who has entered our nation below Biden and we should take all vital measures to make sure the removing of any alien from any nation who doesn’t belong right here or add profit to our nation.”
Trump didn’t title the suspect, nonetheless a number of regulation enforcement sources acquainted with the investigation identified him to ABC News as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
Regulation enforcement officers stroll close to close to against the law scene after a capturing in downtown Washington, D.C., on Nov. 26, 2025.
Daniel Slim/AFP through Getty Pictures
Lakanwal utilized for asylum in 2024 and was granted asylum in April 2025, below the Trump administration, in line with three regulation enforcement sources.
In a put up on social media shortly after Trump’s remarks, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers introduced the “processing of all immigration requests referring to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending additional evaluate of safety and vetting protocols.”
A number of sources informed ABC Information that the FBI is investigating the capturing as a possible act of worldwide terrorism, suggesting authorities try to find out if it could have been impressed by a global terrorist group.
Streets are blocked after stories that two Nationwide Guard troopers had been shot close to the White Home, Nov. 26, 2025.
Anthony Peltier/AP
Regulation enforcement officers and the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace in D.C. are anticipated to supply extra details about the suspect on Thursday.
How the capturing unfolded
Members of the Nationwide Guard and regulation enforcement on the scene of a capturing, Nov. 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Jay O’Brien/ABC Information
The Guard members who had been shot are a lady and man, in line with a regulation enforcement official briefed on the scenario, and had been being handled at native hospitals.
The gunfire broke out round 2:15 p.m. Wednesday, when the unidentified suspect rounded a nook, close to the Farragut West Metro station in Washington, D.C., raised his arm with the weapon and opened hearth, MPD Govt Assistant Chief Jeffery Carroll mentioned.
“It seems … to be a lone gunman that raised a firearm and ambushed these members of the Nationwide Guard,” he mentioned.
An unidentified man in army fatigues lies on a stretcher inside an ambulance, Nov. 26, 2025, in downtown Washington, D.C. Two Nationwide Guard troopers had been shot a number of blocks from the White Home, in line with regulation enforcement.
Drew Angerer/AFP through Getty Pictures
Different Nationwide Guard members rapidly responded to the capturing and helped subdue the suspected shooter, Carroll mentioned.
“They heard the gunfire they usually really had been capable of intervene and to carry down the suspect after he had been shot on the bottom,” Carroll mentioned of the responding Guard members.
Govt Assistant Chief on the Metropolitan Police Division Jeffery Carroll speaks throughout a press convention accompanied by Director of the U.S. Secret Service Sean M. Curran, FBI Director Kash Patel and Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, after two Nationwide Guard members had been shot close to the White Home in Washington, D.C., Nov. 26, 2025.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
The suspected shooter was additionally wounded by gunfire and brought to the hospital in vital situation.
At an earlier information convention, Carroll informed reporters it was not instantly clear who shot the suspect.
Nevertheless, in a press release, Maj. Gen. Tim Seward, adjutant common of the West Virginia Nationwide Guard credited “swift motion taken by the brave fellow West Virginia Nationwide Guardsmen who rapidly engaged and neutralized the assailant, saving lives.”
A motive has not been decided, nonetheless, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser mentioned the person “appeared to focus on” the Guard members.
Nationwide Guard troopers transfer by means of the realm following the capturing of two Nationwide Guard troopers close to the White Home, Nov. 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
A number of regulation enforcement businesses, together with U.S. Marshals, ATF and the FBI, responded to the capturing. Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem mentioned her company was working with native authorities to assemble extra info.
A U.S. Capitol Park Police helicopter is seen on the Nationwide Mall evacuating a Nationwide Guard capturing sufferer, Nov. 26, 2025 in Washington, D.C.
Emily Hanson/AP
The White Home was briefly placed on lockdown however that the order was later lifted about 5 p.m. Trump is at present in Florida, the place he’s spending Thanksgiving at his Mar-a-Lago membership.
“The animal that shot the 2 Nationwide Guardsmen, with each being critically wounded, and now in two separate hospitals, can also be severely wounded, however regardless, pays a really steep worth,” Trump wrote on his social media platform on Wednesday afternoon. “God bless our Nice Nationwide Guard, and all of our Army and Regulation Enforcement. These are really Nice Individuals. I, as President of the US, and everybody related to the Workplace of the Presidency, am with you!”
Location of capturing close to White Home
Google Earth , DC Police Division
The Nationwide Guard was deployed to the nation’s capital as a part of President Trump’s federal takeover of the town and crime crackdown in August. Based on the newest replace, there have been 2,188 Guard personnel assigned to D.C.
On Tuesday, in the course of the conventional turkey pardoning on the White Home, Trump touted his administration’s takeover of D.C. streets. He mentioned it was “one in all our most unsafe locations wherever in the US. It’s now thought of a very protected metropolis.”
“You may stroll down any road in Washington and you are going to be simply fantastic. And I need to thank the Nationwide Guard. I need to thanks for the job you have achieved right here is unbelievable,” Trump mentioned on the occasion.
Emergency autos collect at a cordoned off space close to the place Nationwide Guard troopers seem to have been shot close to the White Home, Nov. 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Vice President JD Vance addressed the capturing on Wednesday as he spoke to troops at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, the place he was spending the day serving meals to troopers and their households forward of Thanksgiving.
“We’re nonetheless studying all the pieces. We nonetheless do not know the motive,” Vance mentioned.
“It is a somber reminder that troopers, whether or not they’re energetic responsibility reserve or Nationwide Guard, our troopers are the sword and the defend of the US of America,” the vice chairman mentioned. “And as an individual who goes into work each single day in that constructing and is aware of that there are lots of people who put on the uniform of the US Military, let me simply say very personally thank them for what they’re doing.”
A member of the U.S. Secret Service secures the realm close to a capturing close to the White Home on Nov. 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Win McNamee/Getty Pictures
Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth posted video of himself talking in regards to the capturing on his X account.
He referred to as it a “cowardly, dastardly act” and mentioned President Trump had requested him to ship one other 500 Nationwide Guardsmen into D.C.
“It will solely stiffen our resolve to make sure that we make Washington, D.C. protected and delightful. The drop in crime has been historic, the rise in security and safety has been historic. But when criminals need to conduct issues like this, violence towards America’s greatest, we are going to by no means again down,” he mentioned.
Gen. Steven Nordhaus, chief of the Nationwide Guard Bureau, and Senior Enlisted Advisor John Raines are heading to D.C. to be with the troops there.
“We’re devastated by this mindless act of violence,” Nordhaus mentioned in a video assertion.
This can be a growing story. Please examine again for updates.
ABC Information’ Jack Date, Katherine Faulders, Beatrice Peterson, Mike Levine, Chris Boccia, Anne Flaherty, Jay O’Brien, Alexandra Hutzler and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
