BREAKING: Afghan National Identified as Suspect in White House-Area Ambush of National Guard Troops
A lone gunman stepped out from around a corner near the White House and opened fire on two National Guard members, leaving both in critical condition and Washington on edge.
The suspect, 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was shot by law enforcement and is now hospitalized under police custody. Officials say the attack unfolded near the busy Farragut West Metro area, just blocks from the White House, but there’s no indication the president’s residence was the target. As Metropolitan Police Executive Assistant Chief Jeffery Carroll put it: “It appears to be a lone gunman that raised a firearm and ambushed these members of the National Guard.”
The Guardsmen were among the 2,200 troops President Trump deployed to Washington over the summer to reinforce local law enforcement—an operation that has triggered lawsuits and a federal ruling that the deployment violated several laws. That ruling is on hold until December 11, but Wednesday’s attack is certain to inject fresh tension into an already strained standoff over control of the city’s security apparatus.
Authorities immediately locked down the White House and the Treasury Department as helicopters circled overhead and yellow tape closed off Farragut Square. Trump, posting from Florida, said the wounded Guardsmen were receiving care at separate hospitals and warned that the suspect “will pay a very steep price.”
By evening, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that another 500 National Guard troops would be sent to the capital at the president’s request—because nothing says “steady leadership” like doubling down on a deployment already tangled in legal trouble.
Source: WSJ (gift article)
Editor: Hard to miss the irony of a city drowning in legal fights over troop deployment only to have those very troops ambushed a few blocks from the White House. Maybe—just maybe—someone should stop treating D.C. like a stage set and start managing it like an actual capital city.
A couple notes:
Drunken DoD dude Pete Hegseth is sending in 500 more National Guard troops to DC.
The assailant was given asylum this year (April 2025) by the—you can’t make this up—Trump Regime, according to Mediaite.