Suspect in US National Guard shooting identified as 29-year-old Afghan national

An Afghan national named Rahmanullah Lakanwal has been identified as the suspected shooter in the ambush attack that wounded two US National Guard troops just blocks away from the White House on Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security said, Report informs via CBS News.

The suspect was shot by another Guard member and taken into custody, officials said. He is currently hospitalized.

Lakanwal, 29, entered the United States in 2021, multiple law enforcement sources told CBS News on Wednesday.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said on X that the suspect was paroled into the US on September 8, 2021, under a Biden-era program for Afghan nationals called Operation Allies Welcome.

The suspect was subdued at the scene of the shooting and taken into custody by National Guard members and law enforcement officers, Jeff Carroll, executive assistant chief of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, told reporters earlier Wednesday.

At this time, he isn't cooperating with authorities, law enforcement sources said.

The suspect had four rounds in his handgun initially, multiple sources familiar with the investigation told CBS News. The first victim - a female Guard member - was struck immediately and collapsed where she stood. She sustained at least two gunshot wounds during the ambush, the sources said.

Then, the suspect took her weapon and used it to continue shooting, striking the second Guard member, according to multiple sources. A third Guard member, who was not injured, ultimately returned fire, ending the attack.

The two wounded Guard members are in critical condition, FBI Director Kash Patel said. Both are from the West Virginia National Guard.

The Guard members were on "high visibility patrols," Carroll said, part of a monthslong deployment of National Guard troops from D.C. and several states ordered by President Trump.