D.C. National Guard shooting investigation live updates as new details emerge about suspect

The Trump administration is now reviewing all asylum cases approved under the Biden administration, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Trisha McLaughlin said in a statement to CBS News on Thursday.

It's unclear how broad the review will be. The Trump administration ordered unprecedented review and re-screening all refugees admitted to the U.S. under the Biden administration earlier this month. Refugees and asylum seekers must meet the same legal definition but arrive in the United States under different circumstances.

The suspect entered the U.S. in 2021 and his asylum case was granted earlier this year while President Trump was in office, a Department of Homeland Security official told CBS News. In her statement, McLaughlin appeared to blame the suspect's approval on a Biden-era court agreement that requires the federal government to speed up the processing of asylum cases in Afghanistan.

An ID image circulated widely online Thursday purporting to show the suspect saying he was assigned to “Kandahar Strike Force,” or “03,” one of a number of so-called “Zero Units” that worked closely with U.S. and other foreign forces during the war in Afghanistan.

The badge also includes the words “Firebase Gekko,” the name of a base used by the CIA and special forces in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, on what was once the camp of the Taliban's founding leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.

CBS News has not independently verified the authenticity of the ID pictured in the photographs, but CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the suspect had previously worked “with the US government, including the CIA, as a member of partner forces in Kandahar.”

More details here.

FBI Director Kash Patel said a search warrant was executed at the suspect's last known address in Washington state. Based on what was found at the address, law enforcement was able to locate people associated with him in San Diego.

“During this process, we have seized numerous electronic devices, including cell phones, laptops, iPads and other materials, which are currently being analyzed,” Patel said. “…Interviews have been and will be conducted, and we will go anywhere in the country or world where the evidence leads us.”

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said the victims, Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Pfc. Andrew Wolfe, 24, both remain in critical condition after surgery.

“They are receiving the best medical care. Their families are with them now,” Pirro said, adding: “It's unclear how this will end.”

Pirro said both were sworn into the National Guard less than 24 hours before the attack. The National Guard's joint county task force later clarified that the two Guard members had been serving in the county since August and were assigned as deputies before the attack to maintain their patrol status.

“We pray on a day like today, when families in America come together and hold hands around the Thanksgiving table. I beg you, I beg you to pray for these two young men,” Pirro said.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Thursday that the suspect will be charged with three counts of assault with intent to murder with a weapon and will also be charged with possession of a firearm during a violent crime. Charges could still change depending on the condition of the injured guards.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said it was too early to determine a possible motive for the shooting.

“It's too early to say what the motive is, but there are definitely areas we're looking into that we're not ready to say,” Pirro said.

The suspect lived in Bellingham, Washington, with his wife and children, and he traveled across the country to Washington, D.C., before the attack, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said at a news conference Thursday.

Two wounded National Guard members were stationed near a subway station when a gunman opened fire without warning in what law enforcement sources called an “apparent ambush” and a “calculated attack.”

According to sources, the first victim, a female guard, was hit immediately and fell on the spot. She suffered at least two gunshot wounds during the ambush.

The suspect, who was holding a gun, initially had four rounds of ammunition in his firearm, sources said. After he fired, he picked up the fallen guardsman's weapon and continued shooting, striking the second guardsman, the sources said.

The third trooper struck the suspect with a pocketknife, and the fourth returned fire and shot the suspect multiple times, ending the attack.

The wounded Guardsmen were designated for deployment but were not acting in a law enforcement capacity and did not have arrest powers, the sources said. Sources explained that they were stationed near the subway station as part of a high-visibility foot patrol that consisted of presence-based security rather than active policing.

TO Nicole Sganga and Jennifer Jacobs

The suspect arrested in the shooting deaths of two National Guard members is not currently cooperating with authorities, law enforcement sources told CBS News late Wednesday.

Several law enforcement officials previously identified him as 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwala, who entered the United States in 2021. (The Department of Homeland Security previously gave his last name as Lakamal.)

A CIA spokesman told CBS News on Thursday that the Afghan suspect in the shooting “previously worked with the U.S. government, including the CIA, as a member of the partner force in Kandahar, which ended in 2021” following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

In a separate statement, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said that “the Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 because of his previous work with the US government, including the CIA, as a member of partner forces in Kandahar, which ended shortly after the chaotic evacuation.” catastrophic failures. May God bless our brave troops.”

CBS News has learned that the suspected Afghan gunman led a group of former Afghan National Armed Forces that worked directly with U.S. and British forces during the country's two-decade war.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal led an Afghan special forces unit in the south of the country and worked closely with international troops, according to a former Afghan commando who spoke to CBS News on Thursday.

The former commando told CBS News that Lakanaval was deeply troubled by the death of a close friend and fellow Afghan commander in 2024, who he said unsuccessfully sought asylum in the United States.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesman told CBS News that the suspect was detained in Washington shot and killed two National Guard members was paroled to the US on humanitarian grounds in 2021. Federal authorities identified him as Rahmanullah Lakanwala, an Afghan national.

It was the main legal mechanism the Biden administration used to absorb tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees after the Taliban took power in August 2021. Lacanwal was admitted to the United States in September of that year.

Lakanwal later applied for asylum with USCIS in 2024 and his application was granted in 2025, the official said. But his request for an asylum-related green card is pending.

So technically he is currently an asylee and is not in the US illegally.

The Trump administration has suspended processing of all immigration applications for Afghan citizens after two National Guard members were shot Wednesday, officials said, after the suspect arrested in the shooting was identified as an Afghan citizen.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Wednesday evening that it is indefinitely suspending the processing of all immigration applications filed by Afghan nationals.

“Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests involving Afghan nationals will cease indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols,” USCIS said in a statement obtained by CBS News. “The protection and security of our homeland and the American people remains our sole purpose and mission.”

The Department of Homeland Security has identified shooting suspect like Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who DHS said was admitted to the United States in September 2021, a month after U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan.

“We must now rescreen every foreigner who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden,” President Trump said in an address Wednesday night.

More details here.