Afghan National Accused of Fatal White House Area Shooting Pleads Not Guilty to Murder Charges

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, charged with first-degree murder for National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom's death, entered a not guilty plea on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard members near the White House, resulting in one fatality, pleaded not guilty to murder charges via video feed from his hospital bed, according to US media reports.

Besides the murder charge for the death of 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom from West Virginia, Lakanwal faces charges of assault with intent to kill and firearms offenses. The second victim, Andrew Wolfe, also a West Virginia National Guardsman, remains in critical condition following the November 26 attack.

Magistrate Judge Renee Raymond ordered Lakanwal to remain in detention until the next hearing scheduled for January 14.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has indicated her intention to pursue the death penalty for Lakanwal, who entered the United States through a resettlement program after the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. US officials have confirmed that Lakanwal had previously served with a CIA-backed "partner force" fighting against the Taliban.

A criminal complaint filed Tuesday details how Lakanwal allegedly ambushed Beckstrom and Wolfe during their routine patrol outside a downtown Washington metro station. According to a witness statement from another National Guard member present at the scene, Lakanwal opened fire while shouting "Allahu Akbar!" The responding Guard member shot and wounded Lakanwal before restraining him as he attempted to reload his weapon.

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem suggested over the weekend that Lakanwal may have been radicalized after his arrival in the United States. A resident of Washington state, he reportedly drove across the country to carry out the attack, which shocked Americans just before the Thanksgiving holiday.

Following the incident, President Donald Trump's administration suspended visas for all Afghan nationals and froze decisions on all asylum cases. Although Lakanwal received asylum in April 2025 under the Trump administration, officials have attributed his initial admission to US soil during the Afghan airlift to what they described as inadequate vetting procedures during Joe Biden's presidency.

In a related development, the Justice Department announced charges against another Afghan man in Texas for threatening to build a bomb and conduct a suicide attack targeting Americans. Mohammad Dawood Alokozay, 30, of Fort Worth, allegedly praised the Taliban while making these threats in a November 23 video shared across multiple social media platforms including TikTok, X, and Facebook.

FBI Dallas special agent in charge Joseph Rothrock stated, "Thanks to public reports of a threatening online video, the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force apprehended this individual before he could commit an act of violence." If convicted of making threatening interstate communications, Alokozay could face up to five years in prison.