Two National Guard soldiers are critically injured after being gunned down in Washington DC, less than two blocks from the White House, in what the city’s mayor called a “targeted shooting”.
Police said a lone suspect opened fire on the National Guard members on Wednesday afternoon, before being subdued by other National Guard nearby who had heard the gunfire.
The attack prompted the White House to briefly go into lockdown and a temporary flight stoppage at the city’s main airport on the eve of Thanksgiving.
President Donald Trump, who was in Florida at the time of the attack, vowed that the attacker would “pay a very steep price”. The suspect is reportedly an Afghan national.
Multiple law enforcement sources identified the suspect to the BBC’s US partner CBS as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, and said he entered the US in 2021.
A statement from Joint Task Force DC, which is overseeing the National Guard deployments to the nation’s capital, said the attack took place at around 14:15 EST (17:15 GMT) on Wednesday near the Farragut Square Metro Station.
The soldiers were on a high-visibility patrol near the corner of 17th and I streets, a busy lunch spot for office workers.
FBI Director Kash Patel – whose agency is leading the investigation – told a news conference the soldiers were “brazenly attacked in a horrendous act of violence”.
Metropolitan Police Assistant Chief Jeff Carroll said the suspect “came around the corner” and “immediately started firing a firearm”.
Other National Guard members nearby heard the gunfire and responded, he said.
“They actually were able to intervene and to kind of hold down the suspect, after he had been shot, on the ground until law enforcement got there within moments,” Carroll said.
The suspect was shot four times, law enforcement sources told CBS.
It is unclear what weapon was used in the assault. Nor was a motive immediately clear.
President Trump – who is at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach – vowed to punish the attacker.
“The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded, and now in two separate hospitals, is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“God bless our Great National Guard, and all of our Military and Law Enforcement,” he added.
US Vice-President JD Vance, who was addressing troops in Kentucky at the time of the attack, urged “everybody who’s a person of faith” to pray for the victims.
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey said in a post on X that both victims were members of his state’s National Guard and had died from their injuries.
But he soon posted a second statement that cited “conflicting reports” about their condition.
Flights through Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were briefly grounded after the attack, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
At the scene, glass from a bus stop lay shattered on the pavement.
The intersection was full of police cars, armed security personnel and National Guard troops.
One witness told the BBC he heard two gunshots, followed by three more.
People ran in panic, some trying to take shelter in a liquor store.
Another witness who was in his car close to the metro station said he also heard the gunfire.
He showed the BBC footage he took of the two soldiers lying on the street in their uniforms being treated by medics.
A third person was also on the pavement being treated. The witness said he did not know whether this third person was the alleged gunman.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the president had asked him to send 500 more National Guard members to Washington DC, following the attack.
“This will only stiffen our resolve to ensure that we make Washington DC safe and beautiful,” the Pentagon chief said.
There are currently nearly 2,200 National Guard troops in Washington DC.
The force includes contingents from the District of Columbia as well as Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia and Alabama.
They are a reservist force that can be activated to serve as military troops, but have limited power as they cannot enforce the law or make arrests.
The National Guard were deployed to Washington DC in August to tackle what Trump called “out of control” crime.
Overall crime in the nation’s capital has fallen since the force was sent, though it’s unclear how much of the decline can be credited to the presence of the troops on the streets.
Washington DC police figures show 62 homicides (a category that includes murder) between 25 May and 25 November this year.
That compares with 107 homicides recorded in the same period last year.
Nearly 6,500 offences have been recorded by police since 12 August, down from about 9,500 in the same period in 2024.
Trump, a Republican, has sent the National Guard to Democratic-led US cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Memphis.
He argues the deployments were needed to tackle crime, but opponents legally challenged the moves, accusing the White House of overreach.
By BBC News
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