WASHINGTON: An Afghan national has been accused of shooting two West Virginia National Guard members just blocks from the White House in a brazen act of violence at a time when the presence of troops in the nation’s capital and other cities around the country has become a political flashpoint.
FBI Director Kash Patel and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said the guard members were hospitalized in critical condition after Wednesday afternoon’s shooting. West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey had walked back his statement Wednesday announcing the troops had died, saying he received “conflicting reports” about their condition.
The rare shooting of National Guard members on American soil, on the day before Thanksgiving, comes amid court fights and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration’s use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem.
The Trump administration quickly ordered 500 more National Guard members to Washington.
The suspect who was in custody also was shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
The 29-year-old suspect, an Afghan national, entered the US in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the US withdrawal from the country, officials said.
The initiative brought roughly 76,000 people to the US, many of whom had worked alongside US troops and diplomats as interpreters and translators. It has since faced intense scrutiny from Trump and his allies, congressional Republicans and some government watchdogs over gaps in the vetting process and the speed of admissions, even as advocates say it offered a lifeline to people at risk of Taliban reprisals.
The suspect, who has been living in Washington state, has been identified by law enforcement officials as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, but authorities were still working to fully confirm his background, two law enforcement officials and a person familiar with the matter said. The people could not discuss details of an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Lakamal arrived in Bellingham, Washington, about 79 miles (127 kilometers) north of Seattle, with his wife and five children, said his former landlord Kristina Widman.
Wednesday night, in a video message released on social media, President Donald Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who entered under the Biden administration.
“If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them,” he said, adding that the shooting was “a crime against our entire nation.”
Jeffery Carroll, an executive assistant D.C. police chief, said investigators had no information on a motive. He said the assailant “came around the corner” and immediately started firing at the troops, citing video reviewed by investigators.
“This was a targeted shooting,” Bowser said.
Troops held down the shooter
The shooting happened roughly two blocks northwest of the White House near a metro station. Hearing gunfire, other troops in the area ran over and held down the gunman after he was shot, Carroll said.
“It appears to be a lone gunman that raised a firearm and ambushed these members of the National Guard,” Carroll said, adding that it was not clear whether one of the guard members or a law enforcement officer shot the suspect.
“At this point we have no other suspects,” Carroll said at a news conference.
At least one of the guard members exchanged gunfire with the shooter, said another law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Social media video shared in the immediate aftermath showed first responders performing CPR on one of the troops and treating the other on a sidewalk covered in broken glass.
Witnesses saw people fleeing
Michael Ryan was just across the street when he heard loud bangs and started running with others. When he later came back, he told AP he saw a person pinned to the ground as people shouted “stay down,” and, nearby, National Guard troops hugged each other.
“It’s just a terrible situation to see,” Ryan said.
Emma McDonald, who exited a metro station just after the shots were fired, said she and a friend sought safety with others in a cafe. McDonald told AP that minutes later she saw first responders rolling a stretcher carrying a National Guard member whose head was covered in blood.
Police tape cordoned off the scene, and fire and police vehicle lights flashed and helicopter blades thudded overhead. Agents from the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were there, and National Guard troops stood sentry nearby. At least one helicopter landed on the National Mall.
“I think it’s a somber reminder that soldiers, whether they’re active duty, reserve or National Guard, our soldiers are the sword and the shield of the United States of America,” Vice President JD Vance said in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he delivered a Thanksgiving message to troops.
Gen. Steven Nordhaus, chief of the National Guard Bureau, scrapped plans to spend the holiday with troops at Guantanamo Bay in order to travel to D.C. and be with guard members there instead.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said on social media that he visited the wounded National Guard members in the hospital and that his “heart breaks for them.”
Troops deployed to DC under emergency order
Trump issued an emergency order in August that federalized the local police force and sent in National Guard troops from eight states and the District of Columbia. The order expired a month later, but the troops remained.
Nearly 2,200 troops currently are assigned to the joint task force operating in the city, according to the government’s latest update.
Last week a federal judge ordered an end to the deployment, but she also put her order on hold for 21 days to allow the administration time to either remove the troops or appeal.
The guard members have patrolled neighborhoods, train stations and other locations, participated in highway checkpoints and been assigned to pick up trash and guard sports events.
More than 300 West Virginia National Guard members were deployed in August. About 160 of them volunteered last week to extend their deployment until the end of the year, while the others returned home just over a week ago.
Afghan national in custody after shooting of 2 National Guard members near White House
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Afghan national in custody after shooting of 2 National Guard members near White House
- Trump earlier said on social media the suspect was “also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price”
US vaccine advisers say not all babies need a hepatitis B shot at birth
- Vaccine advisers named by Kennedy reverse decades-long recommendation
- Kennedy’s advisory committee decided to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive
- President Donald Trump posted a message calling the vote a “very good decision”
NEW YORK: A federal vaccine advisory committee voted on Friday to end the longstanding recommendation that all US babies get the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they’re born.
A loud chorus of medical and public health leaders decried the actions of the panel, whose current members were all appointed by US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a leading anti-vaccine activist before this year becoming the nation’s top health official.
“This is the group that can’t shoot straight,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University vaccine expert who for decades has been involved with ACIP and its workgroups.
Several medical societies and state health departments said they would continue to recommend them. While people may have to check their policies, the trade group AHIP, formerly known as America’s Health Insurance Plans, said its members still will cover the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.
For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of illnesses.
But Kennedy’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices decided to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive, and in cases where the mom wasn’t tested.
For other babies, it will be up to the parents and their doctors to decide if a birth dose is appropriate. The committee voted 8-3 to suggest that when a family elects to wait, then the vaccination series should begin when the child is 2 months old.
President Donald Trump posted a message late Friday calling the vote a “very good decision.”
The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jim O’Neill, is expected to decide later whether to accept the committee’s recommendation.
The decision marks a return to a health strategy abandoned more than three decades ago
Asked why the newly-appointed committee moved quickly to reexamine the recommendation, committee member Vicky Pebsworth on Thursday cited “pressure from stakeholder groups,” without naming them.
Committee members said the risk of infection for most babies is very low and that earlier research that found the shots were safe for infants was inadequate.
They also worried that in many cases, doctors and nurses don’t have full conversations with parents about the pros and cons of the birth-dose vaccination.
The committee members voiced interest in hearing the input from public health and medical professionals, but chose to ignore the experts’ repeated pleas to leave the recommendations alone.
The committee gives advice to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how approved vaccines should be used. CDC directors almost always adopted the committee’s recommendations, which were widely heeded by doctors and guide vaccination programs. But the agency currently has no director, leaving acting director O’Neill to decide.
In June, Kennedy fired the entire 17-member panel earlier this year and replaced it with a group that includes several anti-vaccine voices.
Hepatitis B and delaying birth doses
Hepatitis B is a serious liver infection that, for most people, lasts less than six months. But for some, especially infants and children, it can become a long-lasting problem that can lead to liver failure, liver cancer and scarring called cirrhosis.
In adults, the virus is spread through sex or through sharing needles during injection drug use. But it can also be passed from an infected mother to a baby.
In 1991, the committee recommended an initial dose of hepatitis B vaccine at birth. Experts say quick immunization is crucial to prevent infection from taking root. And, indeed, cases in children have plummeted.
Still, several members of Kennedy’s committee voiced discomfort with vaccinating all newborns. They argued that past safety studies of the vaccine in newborns were limited and it’s possible that larger, long-term studies could uncover a problem with the birth dose.
But two members said they saw no documented evidence of harm from the birth doses and suggested concern was based on speculation.
Three panel members asked about the scientific basis for saying that the first dose could be delayed for two months for many babies.
“This is unconscionable,” said committee member Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, who repeatedly voiced opposition to the proposal during the sometimes-heated two-day meeting.
The committee’s chair, Dr. Kirk Milhoan, said two months was chosen as a point where infants had matured beyond the neonatal stage. Hibbeln countered that there was no data presented that two months is an appropriate cut-off.
Dr. Cody Meissner also questioned a second proposal — which passed 6-4 — that said parents consider talking to pediatricians about blood tests meant to measure whether hep B shots have created protective antibodies.
Such testing is not standard pediatric practice after vaccination. Proponents said it could be a new way to see if fewer shots are adequate.
A CDC hepatitis expert, Adam Langer, said results could vary from child to child and would be an erratic way to assess if fewer doses work. He also noted there’s no good evidence that three shots pose harm to kids.
Meissner attacked the proposal, saying the language “is kind of making things up.”
Health experts say this could ‘make America sicker’
Health experts have noted Kennedy’s hand-picked committee is focused on the pros and cons of shots for the individual getting vaccinated, and has turned away from seeing vaccinations as a way to stop the spread of preventable diseases among the public.
The second proposal “is right at the center of this paradox,” said committee member Dr. Robert Malone.
Some observers criticized the meeting, noting recent changes in how they are conducted. CDC scientists no longer present vaccine safety and effectiveness data to the committee. Instead, people who have been prominent voices in anti-vaccine circles were given those slots.
The committee “is no longer a legitimate scientific body,” said Elizabeth Jacobs, a member of Defend Public Health, an advocacy group of researchers and others that has opposed Trump administration health policies. She described the meeting this week as “an epidemiological crime scene.”
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a liver doctor who chairs the Senate health committee, called the committee’s vote on the hepatitis B vaccine “a mistake.”
“This makes America sicker,” he said, in a post on social media.
The committee heard a 90-minute presentation from Aaron Siri, a lawyer who has worked with Kennedy on vaccine litigation. He ended by saying that he believes there should no ACIP vaccine recommendations at all.
In a lengthy response, Meissner said, “What you have said is a terrible, terrible distortion of all the facts.” He ended by saying Siri should not have been invited.
The meeting’s organizers said they invited Siri as well as a few vaccine researchers — who have been vocal defenders of immunizations — to discuss the vaccine schedule. They named two: Dr. Peter Hotez, who said he declined, and Dr. Paul Offit, who said he didn’t remember being asked but would have declined anyway.
Hotez, of the Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, declined to present before the group “because ACIP appears to have shifted its mission away from science and evidence-based medicine,” he said in an email to The Associated Press.
