Suspect in two shootings West Virginia National Guard soldiers in Washington, DC In the lead-up to Thanksgiving, he struggled with his mental health, sometimes spending “weeks on end” in isolation as he struggled to assimilate in the years since arriving in the United States, it turned out.
Rahmanullah Lakanwala's mental health had been deteriorating for years, leaving him unable to hold down a job and switching between long, dark periods of isolation and sudden week-long cross-country trips, according to emails obtained by The Associated Press.
The emails contain increasing warnings about Lakanwala, whose erratic behavior raised alarms long before last week's attack. His behavior deteriorated so much that a public defender sought help from a refugee organization, fearing he was suicidal. However, they saw no indication that Lakanwal might have committed violence against another person.
Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died in the shooting, and Andrew Wolf, 24, remains in critical condition. Lakanwal, 29, is charged with first-degree murder. During the incident, he was shot by another National Guard member and also hospitalized.
In Afghanistan, Lakanwal worked in a special CIA-backed Afghan Army unit known as Force Zero. He entered the US in 2021 as part of Operation Welcome Allies, a Biden-era program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after a chaotic US troop withdrawal. Many of them worked alongside American troops and diplomats.
He moved to the United States with his wife and five sons, all under 12, in Bellingham, Washington, but had difficulty assimilating, a community member said.
The emails described a man unable to get a regular job or take English classes as he alternated between “periods of dark isolation and reckless travel.” He sometimes spent weeks in his “dark room, not speaking to anyone, not even his wife or older children.” At one point in 2023, the family faced eviction after months of not paying rent.
In one email sent on January 31, 2024, the social worker said Lakanwal “has not acted as a human being, father and breadwinner since March last year, 03/2023.”
A social worker who supported many Afghan families and spoke with Lakanwal through a translator described him in an interview with CBS News as a very gracious host, talkative and charismatic, adding that in 2024 a sharp turn in his personality was noticeable.
A former Afghan commando told the publication that Lakanwal was deeply troubled by the death of a close friend and fellow Afghan commander in 2024, who the former commando said unsuccessfully sought asylum in the United States.
But then there were the “in-between” weeks when Lacanwal tried to turn things around and “do the right thing,” according to the emails, by re-engaging with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services as required by his entry into the United States. “But this quickly escalated into 'manic' episodes lasting one or two weeks in which he would leave in the family car and drive non-stop,” the email said. One day he went to Chicago and another time to Arizona.
In response to the two emails, the US Committee on Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) visited Bellingham a few weeks later, in March 2024, and attempted to make contact with Lakanwal and his family, the AP reported.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said last week that Lacanwal drove across the country from Bellingham, about 80 miles north of Seattle, to the nation's capital.
“Rahmanullah was a man who was extremely proud and capable in the world he came from, and who felt defeated in the world he came into,” a social worker told CBS News.
Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noemtold NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday that Lakanwal “has been radicalized since he got here in this country.” “We believe it was through connections in his home community and state, and we are going to continue to talk to those who interacted with him,” she said, without elaborating.
