OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
11:13 AM – Friday, November 28, 2025
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced Friday that charges against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the 29-year-old Afghan national accused of ambushing and shooting two newly sworn-in National Guardsmen near the White House on Wednesday, have been upgraded to first-degree murder following the death of 20-year-old West Virginia National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom.
Lakanwal purportedly drove cross-country from Washington state to carry out the unprovoked attack with a handgun, striking Beckstrom multiple times before turning on 24-year-old Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, who still remains in critical condition.
Pirro also indicated that more charges are forthcoming as the FBI investigates potential terrorism ties and Lakanwal’s prior collaboration with U.S. partner forces in Afghanistan.
Lakanwal is a 29-year-old Afghan national who came to the U.S. under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome initiative in 2021 — being granted asylum in April this year.
Lakanwal was initially charged with two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed (AWIKWA)—one for each victim, Staff Sgt. Wolfe and Staff Sgt. Beckstrom—along with multiple counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence (PFCOV). After Beckstrom died from her injuries, prosecutors added a charge of first-degree premeditated murder while armed. The original assault and firearm charges were not dismissed.
“There are certainly many more charges to come, but we are upgrading the initial charges of assault to murder in the first degree,” Pirro said Friday morning on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”
The new charge comes as President Donald Trump confirmed that one of the two injured Guards, 20-year-old Beckstrom, succumbed to her injuries on Thursday.
“She’s just passed away,” the president said on a Thanksgiving military call. “She’s no longer with us.”
The other guard, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, is still “fighting for his life.”
“Hopefully we’ll get better news with respect to him,” Trump added.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi also stated during an interview that the Department of Justice would seek the death penalty against Lakanwal if either victim succumbed to their injuries, describing him as a “monster.” With Beckstrom’s passing the following day, this intent now directly applies to the upgraded first-degree murder charge. Bondi reiterated the DOJ’s commitment to pursuing capital punishment in subsequent updates, amid an ongoing FBI probe into potential terrorism links.
“I will tell you right now, I will tell you early, we will do everything in our power to seek the death penalty against that monster who should not have been in our country,” Bondi said.
However, under District of Columbia law, which governs this local prosecution in D.C. Superior Court, the District abolished its death penalty in 1981, and residents voted against reinstatement in 1992, so capital punishment is not available locally.
However, recent federal directives under President Trump aim to expand federal jurisdiction for seeking the death penalty in D.C. cases when applicable.
For first-degree premeditated murder while armed (D.C. Code § 22-2104), the mandatory minimum sentence is 30 years imprisonment, with a maximum of life without the possibility of release — or parole eligibility only after 30 years if life with parole is imposed — but prosecutors here have signaled intent for the harsher option.
Lakanwal could potentially face the death penalty despite D.C.’s local abolition of capital punishment because the case involves victims who are federal military personnel, National Guardsmen on active duty near the White House, opening the door for federal jurisdiction under U.S. law.
While the initial charges were filed in D.C. Superior Court by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Bondi directed the DOJ to pursue federal charges or terrorism-related statutes (18 U.S.C. § 2332b) — which carry the federal death penalty as an option for premeditated murder. If transferred to federal court, a jury could also impose death if aggravating factors are proven, overriding local limits.
“Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom of the National Guard — a hero who volunteered to serve DC on Thanksgiving for people she never met and gave the ultimate sacrifice,” Pirro said in a Thanksgiving statement on social media. “May she rest in peace. It is now time to avenge her death and secure justice.”
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