If they can't love our country, we don't want them.
On a Wednesday afternoon in Washington, two National Guard members were shot without warning near the White House by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who had arrived in the United States under Operation Allies Welcome in 2021. The attack, swift and close-range, has become more than a crime scene — it has become a mirror in which a nation examines its promises, its fears, and the weight of decisions made in the chaos of withdrawal. Before the wounded had been named, the shooting had already been absorbed into the longer argument about who belongs, who was trusted, and who bears responsibility when that trust is broken.
- Two National Guard soldiers were shot at close range on a Washington street corner, struck without warning by a man who appeared suddenly with a handgun raised.
- The shooter, identified as an Afghan refugee resettled under the 2021 Operation Allies Welcome program, was wounded and taken into custody after another Guard returned fire.
- President Trump moved swiftly to frame the attack as a failure of Biden-era immigration policy, calling the shooter an 'animal' and the incident an 'act of terror' on Truth Social and to reporters.
- Trump announced a sweeping review of all Afghan immigrants who entered the US in 2021, signaling that the shooting would drive immediate and broad immigration enforcement action.
- The FBI opened a terrorism investigation alongside the assault charges, a distinction with significant legal and political consequences still unfolding.
- The two injured Guard members represent the immediate human cost, while the policy and political fallout is already reshaping how the administration approaches Afghan and high-risk-country immigration.
On a Wednesday afternoon, two National Guard members were shot without warning near 17th and I Streets NW in Washington — just blocks from the White House — while conducting a routine security patrol. The shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, rounded a corner with a handgun already raised and fired at close range before being wounded himself by another Guard and taken into custody.
Lakanwal had come to the United States in September 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, the federal resettlement program created after the Taliban's return to power and the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. He had been placed in Bellingham, Washington. That detail — the timing and circumstances of his arrival — quickly became the center of the political storm that followed.
President Trump addressed the nation that evening with language that left little room for ambiguity. He called the attack heinous, an act of evil and terror, and referred to the shooter in terms that made clear he saw the incident as more than a crime — it was, in his framing, the consequence of a broken immigration system inherited from the Biden administration. He announced a comprehensive review of every Afghan immigrant admitted in 2021, and made plain his view that those who could not embrace the country had no place in it.
FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the bureau was investigating whether the attack met the legal threshold for terrorism, a designation that carries distinct weight in how the case will be prosecuted and understood. The investigation remained open, the full picture still forming.
Within hours of the shooting, the wounded soldiers had become the human anchor of a much larger argument — about vetting, about the 2021 evacuation, about what obligations and risks come with resettlement. The crime scene had become a policy debate, and the debate was already moving faster than the facts.
Two National Guard members were shot on a Washington street corner just blocks from the White House on a Wednesday afternoon, struck without warning by a man who rounded the corner with a handgun raised. The shooter, identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, fired at close range before being shot himself by another Guard and taken into custody. The incident unfolded near 17th and I Streets NW while the National Guards were conducting what officials described as a routine high-visibility patrol—the kind of everyday security work that suddenly became a crime scene.
Lakanwal had entered the United States in September 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, the federal program that resettled Afghan nationals following the Taliban's return to power. He had been placed in Bellingham, Washington. The timing of his arrival—in the chaotic months after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan—would become the focal point of the political response to the shooting.
President Trump addressed the incident Wednesday night, his language sharp and unsparing. He called the attack "heinous" and "an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror." In a Truth Social post, he referred to the shooter as an "animal." Speaking to reporters, Trump blamed his predecessor Joe Biden for the circumstances that allowed Lakanwal to enter the country, describing Afghanistan itself as "a hell hole on earth." The framing was immediate: this was not simply a shooting, but a failure of immigration policy, a consequence of decisions made during the previous administration.
Trump announced he would order a comprehensive review of every Afghan immigrant who entered the United States in 2021. "We must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here, or add benefit to our country," he said. "If they can't love our country, we don't want them." The statement positioned the shooting as evidence that the vetting process had failed, that dangerous individuals had slipped through.
FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the bureau was investigating whether the attack constituted an act of terrorism in addition to the assault on federal officers. The distinction matters legally and politically—terrorism charges carry different weight, different implications for how the incident is understood and prosecuted. The investigation was ongoing, the full picture still incomplete.
Two National Guard members had been shot and wounded. They were the immediate human cost, though their names and conditions were not detailed in initial reports. The broader implications were already being drawn: questions about vetting procedures, about who should be admitted, about whether the 2021 evacuation and resettlement operation had created a security vulnerability. The shooting had become, within hours, not just a crime but a policy argument, a moment that would shape how the administration approached immigration from Afghanistan and potentially from other countries deemed high-risk.
Notable Quotes
This was a heinous assault and an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror. It was a crime against our entire nation.— President Trump, addressing the shooting
We must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here, or add benefit to our country.— President Trump, on his immigration review policy
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does the timing of his entry matter so much to the political response?
Because 2021 was the year of the Taliban takeover and the American withdrawal. It was chaotic, rushed. The administration had to move fast to get people out. That speed becomes a liability now—it suggests corners were cut, vetting was incomplete.
But Operation Allies Welcome was a deliberate program, not a mistake. People were vetted.
True. But once something goes wrong, the program itself becomes the story. The shooting becomes evidence that the system failed, regardless of how thorough the vetting actually was.
Does Trump's language—calling Afghanistan a "hellhole"—change how people will think about Afghan immigrants already here?
It frames them as coming from a place so broken that danger is almost inherent. It's a way of saying the problem isn't individual vetting; it's the source country itself.
What happens to the other Afghan immigrants from 2021 now?
That's what the review will determine. But the political pressure is on. If you're Afghan and you came in 2021, you're suddenly under scrutiny in a way you weren't yesterday.
Is there any indication Lakanwal had warning signs before the shooting?
The reports don't mention any. That's part of what makes this politically potent—he apparently lived quietly in Bellingham for years, then acted without apparent warning.