Shooting against two soldiers in Washington | Trump denounces an “act of terror”, the suspect has already worked with the US army

(Washington) Donald Trump denounced on Wednesday an “act of terror” and promised to strengthen his anti-immigration policies after shootings targeting two National Guard soldiers in Washington, who are still in critical condition, according to the authorities. In a solemn video address, the American president also confirmed that the arrested suspect is a man who came from Afghanistan in 2021. Media reports specify that he had worked with the American army.

“The arrested suspect is a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan” and who “was brought here by the Biden government in September 2021,” said the American president, from Florida where he is spending the Christmas holiday. Thanksgiving.

According to sources familiar with the matter cited by the New York Timesthe suspect would be Rahmanullah Lakanwal. He would have arrived in the United States in 2021 as part of “Operation Allies Welcome”, a program intended to help Afghans fleeing the Taliban regime to settle in the United States after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The Afghan national had worked with the American armed forces in Afghanistan before being exfiltrated to the United States, American media said on Wednesday.

According to Fox News, the suspect, aged 29, had worked with the US army and the CIA in Afghanistan and arrived in the United States a month after the hasty withdrawal of US forces from that country during the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden, in August 2021.

Fox News quotes CIA Director John Ratcliffe as saying the suspect had worked with the United States in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, where one of the largest American military bases was located.

“In the wake of Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration justified bringing the suspected shooter to the United States in September 2021 because of his past work with the U.S. government, including the CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” Mr. Ratcliffe told Fox News.

CNN, however, revealed that the suspect’s request for asylum in 2024 was approved by the Trump administration in April 2025.

President Trump said his administration must now “reexamine” all individuals who came to the United States from Afghanistan when his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden was in office.

Donald Trump engaged in a vehement diatribe against immigration, described as “the greatest threat to national security”, criticizing his predecessor for having let “millions” of foreigners into the United States.

The shootings occurred in the afternoon of Wednesday in the very center of the American capital, invested since August by hundreds of these reserve soldiers to carry out foot patrols, at the request of Donald Trump and against the advice of local Democratic authorities.

The two soldiers affected are “seriously injured” and the suspect is also “severely injured”, the president wrote earlier on his Truth Social network, describing the author as an “animal” who would “pay very dearly” for his act.

“Targeted shots”

This is the worst attack against the National Guard since its deployment in recent months in Democratic cities.

Around 2:15 p.m., “a suspect came around the corner, raised his firearm and fired toward national guards” on patrol, Jeffery Carroll, a Washington police official, said at a press conference, speaking of a “lone shooter.” »

Other national guards “managed” to “overpower him to arrest him,” he added.

“The shootings were targeted,” Democratic Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said at the same press conference.

The two soldiers are in “critical condition,” FBI director Kash Patel insisted in front of the cameras, while confusion reigned for a while over their fate.

Patrick Morrisey, the governor of West Virginia, where the two victims were from, announced on X that they had succumbed to their injuries before retracting his statement.

The Washington police also indicated that they were currently “not aware of any motive”.

The White House accused the Democratic opposition of having “demonized” the soldiers by criticizing their deployment and accusing Donald Trump of exceeding his powers.

At the scene of the shooting, in an office district two blocks from the White House, AFP journalists saw a person dressed in a military uniform being evacuated on a stretcher.

“History Live”

Mohammed Elkattabi had just visited the White House with his family when he “saw lots of cops and police cars speeding by.” “We saw two stretchers,” he told AFP.

His 6-year-old son, he said, “learns history at school and he has now been able to see history live,” in a country marked by political violence and gun crime.

The shootings occurred in a very tense political climate in the United States, shaken in early September by the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a young ultra-conservative influencer allied to the president, himself the victim of an assassination attempt during the 2024 presidential campaign.

In recent months, the president has notably sent the National Guard to Los Angeles and Washington, against the advice of local Democratic authorities, saying these reinforcements are necessary to fight crime and illegal immigration.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday the sending of 500 additional troops to Washington, bringing their number to more than 2,500.

The municipality took legal action to request the withdrawal of the National Guard and the courts ruled in its favor last week.