(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.
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In a solemn video address, the US president also confirmed that the arrested suspect is a man who came from Afghanistan in 2021.
“The suspect arrested 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.
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 alleged shooter 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”
PHOTO NATHAN HOWARD, REUTERS
This is the worst attack against the National Guard since its deployment in recent months in Democratic cities.
Around 2:15 p.m. Washington time, “a suspect came around the corner, raised his firearm and fired toward National Guardsmen” 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,” Muriel Bowser, the Democratic mayor of Washington, said at the same press conference.
The two soldiers are in “critical condition”, Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, insisted in front of the cameras, while confusion reigned for a time 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.
PHOTO ANTHONY PELTIER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Numerous police officers were deployed to the scene after the attack.
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 six-year-old son, he said, “learns history at school and he has now been able to see history firsthand,” 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.
PHOTO MARK SCHIEFELBEIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Members of the National Guard in Washington DC
In recent months, the president has sent the National Guard to Los Angeles and Washington, against the advice of local Democratic officials, saying the reinforcements are necessary to fight crime and illegal immigration.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday the sending of 500 additional troops to Washington, which should bring 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.
