The suspect who authorities say shot and killed one National Guard member and seriously wounded another in Washington, D.C., last month has now been charged in federal court, where the death penalty may be considered, federal officials said Wednesday.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national, was recently charged in a federal complaint with two firearms offenses, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
He remains charged in the federal complaint with first-degree murder while armed, assault with intent to kill while armed and two counts of possession of a firearm during a violent crime, in violation of the D.C. Code, the office said. He had previously pleaded not guilty to those charges in D.C. Superior Court.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
US Department of Justice
Transferring the case to federal court “ensures that we can undertake the serious, deliberate and compelling analysis necessary to determine whether the death penalty is appropriate here,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a statement Wednesday.
The D.C. Superior Court, where Lakanwal was initially charged in the days after the shooting, does not have the death penalty.
Two members of the West Virginia National Guard were shot in the head while on patrol Nov. 26 in the nation’s capital in an “ambush-style” attack, according to federal prosecutors. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries, authorities said. U.S. Air Force Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was seriously injured and “has a long road ahead in his recovery,” Pirro said Wednesday.
A blacksmith .357 & The Wesson revolver that had been reported stolen in Seattle, Washington, in 2023 was recovered from the scene of the shooting, federal prosecutors said.
Lakanwal allegedly obtained the stolen revolver on Nov. 14 from an individual who believed the suspect wanted it for “personal protection while working as a rideshare driver,” according to the federal complaint. He then drove across the country in the days before the attack from Washington to D.C., according to the complaint.
A makeshift memorial is seen at the site of the shooting of two National Guard members last week on December 1, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
The federal complaint, filed Tuesday, alleges that Lakanwal transported a firearm that he had “reasonable cause to believe had been stolen” across state lines, and that he transported the firearm with the intent to commit a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than a year.
The suspect has not yet pleaded guilty to federal charges, online records show.
Lakanwal, who had worked with the CIA during the US war in Afghanistan, arrived in the United States in 2021, police sources said. He applied for asylum last year and was granted it in April, according to sources.
