The suspect who authorities say fatally shot a Nationwide Guard member and critically wounded one other in Washington, D.C., final month has now been charged in federal court docket, the place the dying penalty could be thought-about, federal officers stated Wednesday.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan nationwide, has been newly charged by federal criticism with two firearm offenses, in keeping with the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the District of Columbia.
He stays charged within the federal criticism with first-degree homicide whereas armed, assault with intent to kill whereas armed, and two counts of possession of a firearm throughout a criminal offense of violence, in violation of the D.C. Code, the workplace stated. He had beforehand pleaded not responsible to these expenses in D.C. Superior Courtroom.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
U.S. Division of Justice
The switch of the case to federal court docket “ensures that we are able to undertake the intense, deliberate, and weighty evaluation required to find out if the dying penalty is suitable right here,” U.S. Lawyer Jeanine Pirro stated in a press release on Wednesday.
D.C. Superior Courtroom, the place Lakanwal was initially charged within the days following the taking pictures, doesn’t have the dying penalty.
Two Nationwide Guard members from West Virginia have been shot within the head whereas on patrol on Nov. 26 within the nation’s capital in an “ambush-style” assault, in keeping with federal prosecutors. Military specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her accidents, officers stated. U.S. Air Drive Employees Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was critically injured and “has an extended highway forward in his restoration,” Pirro stated Wednesday.
A .357 Smith & Wesson revolver that had been reported stolen in Seattle, Washington, in 2023, was recovered from the scene of the taking pictures, federal prosecutors stated.
Lakanwal allegedly obtained the stolen revolver on Nov. 14 from a person who believed the suspect wished it for “private safety whereas working as a rideshare driver,” in keeping with the federal criticism. He then drove cross-country within the days earlier than the assault from Washington to D.C., in keeping with the criticism.
A makeshift memorial is seen on the location of final week’s taking pictures of two members of the Nationwide Guard December 1, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP through Getty Pictures
The federal criticism, filed on Tuesday, alleges that Lakanwal transported a firearm that he had “cheap trigger to consider was stolen” throughout state traces, and that he transported the gun with the intent to commit an offense punishable by imprisonment for a couple of 12 months.
The suspect has not but entered a plea to the federal expenses, on-line information present.
Lakanwal, who had labored with the CIA in the course of the U.S. conflict in Afghanistan, got here to the US in 2021, regulation enforcement sources stated. He utilized for asylum final 12 months and was granted it in April, in keeping with the sources.
