National Guard Soldiers Shot in ‘Targeted' Attack Near White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two National Guard soldiers were shot and critically wounded on Wednesday 26 November 2025, in downtown Washington near the White House in what officials described as a targeted ambush, and the suspect was in custody after suffering gunshot wounds during the incident.

The suspect was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national. 

Authorities said they had yet to determine a motive for the shooting.

According to DHS, Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program to resettle thousands of Afghans who assisted the US during the Afghanistan war and feared reprisals from Taliban forces who seized control of their homeland after the US withdrawal.

The DHS did not include other details of his immigration record, but a Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved on 23 April of this year, three months after President Donald Trump took office.

Lakanwal, 29, who resided in Washington state, had no known criminal history, the official said.

Trump, who was at his resort in Florida at the time of the attack, released a prerecorded video statement late on Wednesday calling the shooting "an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror." He said his administration would "re-examine" all Afghans who came to the US during Joe Biden's presidency.

Late on Wednesday night, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency announced an immediate and indefinite halt to the "processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals" pending a review of security and vetting protocols.

The two soldiers, members of the West Virginia National Guard, were part of a "high-visibility patrol" around 2:15 p.m. ET (20:15 CET) near the corner of 17th and I streets, a few blocks from the White House. The suspect came around a corner and "ambushed" them, Metropolitan Police Assistant Chief Jeff Carroll said at a press briefing.

After an exchange of gunfire, other National Guard troops subdued the shooter, he said. The two wounded soldiers were in critical condition at local hospitals, FBI Director Kash Patel said.

"This is a targeted shooting," Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said at the briefing.

The shooter appeared to have acted alone, officials said.

In response to the shooting, Trump ordered 500 more guard soldiers deployed to Washington, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters. The additional troops will join about 2,200 already in the city as part of the president's contentious immigration and crime crackdown targeting Democratic-led cities.

Vice President JD Vance, who was in Kentucky on Wednesday, said in a post on X that the shooting proved that the Trump administration's immigration policy was justified.

"We must redouble our efforts to deport people with no right to be in our country," he said.

Critics of the Trump administration's immigration policy say it has employed illegally harsh tactics and swept up immigrants indiscriminately, including some with no criminal history and others here legally.

Witnesses describe chaotic scene

The shooting unfolded near Farragut Square, a popular lunch spot for office workers just a few blocks from the White House. The park, where light posts are wrapped in wreaths and bows for the holiday season, is flanked by fast-casual restaurants and a coffee shop, as well as two metro stops.

Witnesses described a chaotic scene with pedestrians fleeing after shots were fired.

Mike Ryan, 55, said he was on his way to buy lunch nearby when he heard what sounded like gunfire. He ran half a block away and heard another round of apparent gunfire.

When he made his way back to the scene, he saw two National Guard soldiers on the ground across the street, while people tried to resuscitate one of them. At the same time, other Guard troops had pinned someone on the ground, Ryan said.

Another witness, Emma McDonald, said she saw one of the soldiers carried away on a stretcher minutes after the shooting, his head covered in blood and an automated compression system attached to his chest.

National Guard soldiers have been in Washington since Trump's initial deployment in August, a move that was opposed by local officials and criticized by Democrats. The guard troops in the city include contingents from the District of Columbia as well as Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia and Alabama.

Trump, a Republican, has suggested repeatedly that crime has disappeared from the capital as a result of the deployment, an assertion at odds with the police department's official crime statistics.