As a National Guardsman critically wounded by an Afghan refugee struggles for life, his family is asking everyone to pray. 

Meanwhile, President Trump has stopped the asylum process for people from Afghanistan. 

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says authorities believe the suspected gunman, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who allegedly shot Guard members Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe, might have been radicalized after he arrived in the United States.

Noem told ABC’s This Week, “As we continue to talk to his family and his contacts, more details will be revealed and we’ll release those when it’s appropriate. But this is something that for these individuals, when they’re brought into our country, it’s a dangerous situation if you don’t know who they are. If they’re coming from a country that’s not stable and doesn’t have a government that can help you vet them, that we shouldn’t allow it.” 

Lakanwal, an Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the war in Afghanistan, will be charged with first-degree murder. He came to the U.S. after Afghanistan’s government fell to the Taliban in 2021 and was granted asylum in April of this year. He lived in Washington state, and authorities say he drove to Washington, D.C., to carry out the attack.

Aboard Air Force One on Sunday, President Trump spoke about his decision to pause Afghan asylum requests. 

He was asked, “How long does your administration plan to pause asylum into the U.S.?”

Trump answered, “I think a long time. We don’t want them. We don’t want those people. We have enough problems. We don’t want those people.”

In response, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said, “It is outrageous and unfair to try to punish an entire class of people for the evil acts of one person.” 

However, the New York Post reports that more than 5,000 Afghans brought to the U.S. after American forces withdrew from the country were flagged as potential “national security” threats by Homeland Security. 

The father of 20-year-old National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, who died from her wounds in the attack, posted on Facebook, “My baby girl has passed to glory. If I don’t talk to you, don’t be offend(ed). This has been a horrible tragedy.”  

National Guard member Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe (U.S. Attorney’s Office via AP); and classmates of National Guard member Specialist Sarah Beckstrom at a vigil held in her honor in Webster Springs, W.Va., Nov. 28, 2025 (Rachel Isabell/The Daily Times via AP)

The parents of 24-year-old Guardsman Andrew Wolfe, who is in critical condition, say their son is a fighter. West Virginia Congressman Riley Moore, who spoke to the Wolfe family, is asking everyone to join in prayer for his recovery.   

Rep. Moore told Fox, “Above all, what they want is for everyone to continue to pray. I believe in the power of prayer, and I can promise that his parents believe in the power of prayer…please keep praying.”

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