National Guard member honored after being killed in DC shooting, suspect faces murder charges

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(ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Charges against the man accused of shooting two National Guard members have been upgraded to first-degree murder after one of the soldiers died, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia announced Friday, while investigators continued to seek a motive. Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, were hospitalized in critical condition after the Wednesday afternoon shooting near the White House. President Donald Trump announced Thursday evening that Beckstrom had died. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office said the charges against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War, now include one count of first-degree murder and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed. The Trump administration said Friday it is halting all asylum decisions and has also paused issuing visas for people traveling on Afghan passports. Beckstrom and Wolfe were deployed with the West Virginia National Guard as part of Trump’s crime-fighting mission that federalized the D.C. police force. The president also has deployed or tried to deploy National Guard members to other cities to assist with his mass deportation efforts but has faced court challenges. Asylum decisions halted Trump called the shooting a “terrorist attack” and criticized the Biden administration for enabling Afghans who worked with U.S. forces during the Afghanistan War to enter the U.S. The president has said he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and expel millions of immigrants from the country. The director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said in a post on the social platform X that asylum decisions will be paused “until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.” Experts say the U.S. has rigorous vetting systems for asylum-seekers. Asylum claims made from inside the country through USCIS have long faced backlogs. Critics say the slow down has been exacerbated during the Trump administration.