D.C. National Guard shooting suspect was not functional as a person...

17GEN4.com

We are obviously being lied to as earlier reports claim everyone was surprised that this animal from Afghanistan would do such a thing...

We have no National Security under the Trump 47 Admin

Washington, D.C. – December 1, 2025  As the investigation into the deadly shooting of two West Virginia National Guard members near the White House continues, new details from a 2024 Associated Press report have resurfaced, painting a troubling portrait of the suspect's long-unaddressed mental health spiral. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national and former CIA collaborator, allegedly gunned down Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, killing her instantly, and critically wounded Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, in the November 26 attack. Lakanwal himself was shot and wounded by responding Guard members and remains hospitalized in stable but sedated condition.

The AP's earlier reporting, based on emails exchanged between a community advocate and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), detailed warnings about Lakanwal's deteriorating state that dated back to early 2024—nearly two years before the shooting. In a January 31, 2024, email, the advocate described Lakanwal as having "not been functional as a person, father and provider since March of last year [2023]." The message highlighted his sudden job abandonment, behavioral shifts, and failure to provide for his family in Bellingham, Washington, where they resettled after fleeing Afghanistan in 2021.

Those emails, which the AP obtained and first published amid initial coverage of the shooting, revealed a pattern of "dark isolation" interspersed with "manic" episodes. Lakanwal reportedly spent "weeks on end" holed up in a darkened room, emerging only for impulsive, cross-country drives in the family car—journeys that took him as far as Chicago and Arizona, lasting up to two weeks and leaving his wife to handle the fallout alone. School officials in Bellingham raised alarms about his children's wellbeing, noting instances of malnutrition, unbathed arrivals, and repeated outfits, while Lakanwal drifted in and out of short-term jobs and abandoned English classes.

Family members have since told investigators that Lakanwal's struggles stemmed from untreated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) incurred during his decade-long service with a CIA-sponsored Afghan special forces unit. "He fought alongside us, and now this," one anonymous relative told CNN, echoing the shock felt by the Bellingham advocate who remembered Lakanwal affectionately playing with his young sons despite his unraveling life.

The latest developments, emerging Sunday from federal officials, add a layer of complexity to the narrative of personal decline. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Lakanwal was "radicalized" after arriving in the U.S., with his asylum claim—initially filed under the Biden administration and approved in April 2025 under Trump—now under intense scrutiny. "We know this shooter was radicalized here, on our soil," Noem stated during a briefing, promising more details as the FBI reviews Lakanwal's sparse social media footprint and limited contacts. President Trump, who paused all new asylum processing in the shooting's immediate aftermath, called the incident "a total failure of the open-borders crowd" in a Mar-a-Lago statement Saturday.

Critics, including refugee advocates, argue the case exposes gaps in post-resettlement support. USCRI staff visited the Lakanwal home in March 2024 following the emails but reported no meaningful engagement, with the advocate believing he had declined further help. "We sounded the alarm, but the system didn't listen," the anonymous source told the AP, now cooperating fully with authorities as questions mount over why red flags— from job loss to child welfare reports—failed to trigger intervention.

Wolfe, the surviving victim, underwent a second surgery Friday and is listed in fair condition at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, according to Guard officials. A makeshift memorial for Beckstrom, adorned with blue ribbons, has grown outside her Webster Springs, West Virginia, hometown high school, where friends remember her as a "bright light" sworn into service just 24 hours before the ambush.

Lakanwal faces federal charges including murder and attempted murder, with arraignment pending his medical clearance. As D.C. bolsters patrols around federal sites, the shooting—believed to target Guard personnel amid Trump's post-inauguration security buildup—has ignited debates on veteran mental health, immigration vetting, and radicalization risks. The AP's 2024 emails, once a quiet plea for aid, now serve as a haunting prelude to tragedy, underscoring how whispers of dysfunction can escalate into national horror. 17GEN4.com