Trump: Guardsman shot in D.C. attack has died

All right. We've been listening to the president giving an update on the tragic attack against two National Guard troops in Washington, DC. He did reveal that Sarah Beckstrom, who had been in critical condition in the hospital, has passed away, according to the president. That is the update that we have gotten so far. And I want to bring in CBS News Homeland Security and Justice Correspondent Nicole Sganga. She's been following this story for us. She's in the Washington Bureau. Nicole, good to have you on. So get us up to speed. What more can you tell us about this investigation? And what do you make of the president's remarks? Yeah, Tom, incredibly heartbreaking news-- specialist Sarah Beckstrom from West Virginia. She was just 20 years old. The president, just moments ago in his remarks, announcing that after spending over 24 hours in critical condition at a DC area hospital, she has, in fact, passed away after sustaining multiple gunshot injuries during that horrific shooting in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. The president saying that, unfortunately, I can tell you just seconds before I went on right now, I heard Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia. He called her highly respected, a young, magnificent person, that she's no longer with us now. She began her service in the West Virginia National Guard in June of 2023, and she had been deployed in Washington, DC, in the nation's capital for just a few months-- back in August, when the White House first announced its task force on crime here in Washington. She was deployed on orders from West Virginia to Washington, DC, and she had been here ever since. Now, we are told that she was deputized and sworn in yet again, just a day before this tragedy happened here. We know that her father told the New YorkTimes that he had been holding her hand in the hospital, and that she had suffered a mortal wound. She was surrounded by family and friends, who all crowded around her in her hospital room and also in the hallway outside of the hospital. And several, including West Virginia's governor, who addressed the National Guardsmen in DC today, described that scene in the hospital as being tragic, but also very busy, that there were lots of people moving in and out of the hospital earlier today. As for the investigation itself, Tom, we have learned a whole bunch today about the suspect behind all of this, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who the FBI is now poring over his digital fingerprint, trying to figure out exactly what his motive was behind this. We know that they executed multiple search warrants in what they are calling a coast-to-coast investigation. Investigators determining that he drove miles from Western Washington State to Northwestern Washington, DC, in the run-up to this shooting with a loaded revolver. And after executing those search warrants, investigators have pulled digital devices like phones, laptops, and iPads from his-- from his residence in Bellingham, Washington State, and they're now probing connections that he had both there in Washington, but also in California, in San Diego, according to the FBI director, Kash Patel, as well as overseas. So a lot there. But just absolute tragic news that we just got on Thanksgiving Day as families gathered in the hospital around these two National Guard members, the hospital beds of both 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and 24-year-old Andrew Wolff. And we now know that one has passed away.

Yeah, such a tragic development in a very tragic story. Nicole, I want to zoom out for a second. Trump administration vowed sweeping reexaminations of immigrants from 19 nations of concern after the suspect was identified. What are some of the larger implications here? What are some of the policy changes or moves that this administration could make to the best of your knowledge? Yeah, I mean, Tom, just to reality check for our viewers. The Trump administration did make this announcement today that it would be reexamining green card holders from 19 countries that mirror Trump's travel ban 2.0. But there had been a previous announcement by the administration that they were already planning to do this a couple of weeks ago. Now, we have heard from members of the Trump administration, who point to a program that allowed Afghan evacuees to enter into the United States in September of 2021-- a lot of finger pointing around what's known as Operation Allies Welcome. And CIA Director Ratcliffe said the alleged shooter traveled to the US in September of 2021, his ticket in part due to that program but also powered by Operation Allies Welcome and his worked with the intelligence agency as a member of a partner force in Afghanistan. But just to get people up to speed on what the vetting looked like as part of that program. A Justice Department Inspector General Audit found of the nearly 90,000 evacuees that fled to the United States, ultimately, the FBI flagged just 231 individuals through watchlist screening, including 55 who entered the US before being identified. So it is still a very small subset of this population of Afghan evacuees, who were identified as being on the federal government's radar before entry, when you consider just how many fled in the aftermath of the US evacuation of Afghanistan to the United States. And there's now a lot of concern among immigration advocates and advocates for this particularly vulnerable community, because not only has the president announced that he will be looking into the green card holders from these 19 nations, but he has also paused all immigration application processing of Afghan nationals, also looking to reevaluate a number of those granted asylum under the Biden administration. And so there is concern among advocates that I've been speaking to today that this one individual, this one absolutely abhorrent tragedy that played out in the nation's capital on Wednesday, is going to hurt what is already a very vulnerable community within the United States. Tom.

One of the points I find interesting, the president referring to this as an act of terrorism. Obviously, it takes a whole lot of determination for an individual to drive across the country and carry out this act. Experts I've spoken to say that perhaps it wasn't an issue with the vetting process but possibly some sort of radicalization here in the United States after the suspect had already come here. As we turn to the investigation, Nicole, what could investigators be parsing through, specifically when it comes to that online footprint that you mentioned earlier? Yeah, absolutely. And Tom, I think you hit the nail on the head there. In speaking with experts, they are concerned right now and really zeroing in the big question. What, if any, domestic radicalization occurred in the case of this suspect? What sort of flipped that switch and enabled him to drive thousands of miles across the country with a loaded firearm to carry out what investigators are calling, and they're not mincing words here, a targeted ambush against National Guard personnel? And so as part of this digital and forensic fingerprint, they're going to be poring over all of the digital devices that we mentioned earlier that were retrieved from the alleged gunman's home-- his laptop, his iPad, his phones. We know that there were devices also seized from his person at the time of his arrest, just moments after the shooting occurred. And they're going to be looking for any connections there. They're going to be looking to see if he was possibly directed by anyone, foreign or otherwise, if he was inspired by any radical messages online. Was he reading anything from ISIS or al-Qaeda? Now, I should point out in speaking with Homeland Security and justice sources here in Washington, DC, at this point, there's no indication that he worked in coordination with anyone else. He appears to be what we often refer to as a lone wolf or a lone actor as of yet. But one of the theories is that the suspect here was struggling with mental health and in fact, had been suffering from paranoia and thought that US officials, US authorities, were seeking to deport him. Now, that is not the reality here. He was granted asylum earlier this year and had been applying for his green card, but also some concerns here, Tom, as investigators look into possible radicalization that he could have suffered, perhaps from PTSD, especially in light of what we consider was his experience working overseas in close proximity to US forces and as a partner to the CIA. I think that's what a lot of people, Nicole, are probably somewhat surprised about when they hear about the background of the suspect working closely with the CIA, fighting against the Taliban, and then potentially turning on US troops after coming stateside. What more can you tell us about the suspect and his time overseas? Yeah, absolutely. And so we know that the suspect came to the United States first in 2021, but he had spent time working with both US Special Forces as well as British Special Forces, and he was part of a very elite group of individuals that worked, sometimes in clandestine operations, with US forces and US intelligence analysts overseas during the war in Afghanistan, Tom, and I think you bring up a really important point here, which is that many immigration experts have pointed out to me that this individual was among the most vetted to have come to the United States, and certainly would have also experienced a level of screening and vetting that some asylum seekers simply don't by virtue of his work with the US government and specifically with the CIA, which really begs the question, what, if any, information? Could there have been derogatory information for the US government to prevent this individual from entering into the United States? Because certainly, someone with his experience who had put his life on the line for the United States likely would have had a pretty smooth path to asylum barring anything drastic there. The FBI director was asked during his press conference earlier today about possible red flags. He simply said there was not a lot of vetting that occurred during Operation Allies Welcome, and he continued back to this political talking point that the Biden administration had allowed thousands of Afghan evacuees to enter into the country. But I think it is a very important question, Tom, that we need to continue pressing US officials on, which is what, if anything, would have prevented the United States from allowing a man like this to enter into the country? And if the answer is nothing, then this could be a failure on the part of Homeland Security officials not to prevent this individual from entering into the United States, but from providing him with the resources needed, or revisiting perhaps his asylum application, revisiting his person to determine whether or not he had been radicalized and become a threat to the United States and to law enforcement personnel.

You know, I want to mention a tweet that just came out. We're monitoring from Pam Bondi, saying, please pray for Sarah. There is inevitably going to be an outpouring of support for the family here. Also, we should not forget about Andrew Wolfe, the 24-year-old who's also a National Guardsman, who was shot in this attack. Do we know his condition? We know that he is not in good shape in the hospital. But what else, if anything, do we know, Nicole? Yeah, we know that Andrew Wolfe, 24 years old. He's from Martinsburg, West Virginia. He entered the service with West Virginia's National Guard on February 5th of 2019, and he had been on orders in the District of Columbia since the beginning of this mission-- again, very similar to Sarah Beckstrom. Since August of earlier this year, he's also been surrounded by family members who were escorted by law enforcement overnight into the hospital so that they could visit with him, hold his hand. We know that he sustained at least one firearm injury, possibly more, and he was evacuated, whisked away to the hospital within moments of that shooting playing out. Both Andrew Wolff and Sarah Beckstrom were on patrol, what's called a high-visibility patrol in the District of Columbia outside of a popular metro station in downtown DC, just two blocks north of the White House when investigators have described that they were approached, ambushed as they came around a corner by the alleged gunman, who came out and raised his revolver and immediately started shooting, continued shooting, went over to one of the fallen National Guardsmen and actually retrieved their weapon, and then continued to shoot. We should note that they were among 2100 members of the National Guard, both from Washington, DC, but also from West Virginia, who are currently in the district serving as part of this federal law enforcement task force spearheaded by the White House and President Trump. And that just hours after this event, this tragic incident occurred on Wednesday. The president announced that he had ordered Pete Hegseth, the Defense Secretary, to order an additional 500 members of the National Guard to Washington, DC. This is certainly not something that's happening in a vacuum. We know that President Trump has also ordered federalized National Guard to other cities throughout the country, including Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, some of those deployments associated with immigration enforcement. But the concern that I've been hearing from law enforcement personnel is regarding these National Guard deployments, how highly visible these individuals are. The threat environment right now is really challenging, both for the National Guard, but also for federal and state and local law enforcement. We know that there have been-- this year running up until October 31, the Fraternal Order of Police has tallied 58 assaults on police officers. We've heard from the Department of Homeland Security that has said that threats, and specifically assaults, against law enforcement personnel have gone up to the tune of 1,000%, Tom, which is a hard number to even fathom. So we know that law enforcement right now, in addition to the National Guard, is really under a magnifying glass, particularly as we have seen more and more the politicalization of some of these deployments of soldiers and also of federal law enforcement in cities across the country. And so that is a very real concern right now. There's been discussion, perhaps, of whether or not the National Guard requires more training, what resources can be put in place in order to protect them. I know that around the scene today, we were spending a lot of time near that DC Metro stop where this all played out. We saw a number of federal law enforcement-- ATF, FBI, US Secret Service. We did not see the National Guard out there, and it will be interesting to see what their presence will be in the coming days and weeks here. Yeah, certainly some alarming statistics there when it comes to violence against authorities and police officers. You mentioned Pete Hegseth, Secretary Pete Hegseth. He also just tweeted out moments ago on X, "an American hero at home with the Lord." So we're already seeing that outpouring of support for Sarah Bergstrom, passing away at just 20 years old. All of that information revealed from the president in a late address tonight to members of the military, revealing that sadly, Sarah Beckstrom, at 20 years old, National Guard, joined in 2023, 23, has passed away and succumbed to the wounds she sustained in that attack. As for the condition of the other National Guardsman and the suspect, we are still waiting for more updates on that as well. But the president making that news tonight on Thanksgiving night that Sarah Berkstrom has passed away. So Nicole, I also want to talk about what's next in the investigation. It sounds like there is just a mountain of evidence that these authorities are going to have to sift through. So can you get viewers who might just be joining us now up to speed on where we stand with that? Yeah, absolutely. There is a mountain of evidence, obviously, these digital devices that we've been speaking about-- cell phones, iPhones, iPads, laptops to sort through, all of these coming from the suspected gunman's home in Northwest Washington State before of course, he took that thousands plus mile journey to Northwest Washington, DC. But investigators, in addition to creating this blueprint, this sort of digital blueprint tracing the shooter's online activity, will also be tracing his movement in the days and weeks up to this shooting to try to determine when exactly was the moment that he decided to carry out this attack. And was there one specific thing that led to this sort of radical action that he chose to take? We know from speaking-- our colleagues in Afghanistan and in the London Bureau have been speaking to some former colleagues of his from the Afghan commandos, who described him as being a solid, responsible, were surprised to hear that this kind of behavior, in fact, came from him. They did mention that he suffered a recent loss back in 2024 of a close friend who he served alongside in the Afghan commandos-- so perhaps an indication that he was grieving the loss of a close friend, what was described as his best friend. And we know sometimes that those personal losses and grievances do unfortunately precede these kinds of mass atrocities. We've seen that in the past before. So certainly, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies are going to want to explore that connection, possibly talk to some of his colleagues who served alongside him overseas. We're also hearing that they have deployed a team in San Diego. FBI Director Kash Patel was a little bit vague about exactly what the connection was there, but we know that there have been multiple search warrants that have been executed in Southern California, in addition to Washington State. And just today, the FBI director also said that federal law enforcement is really casing the nation's capital, that they are going block to block to try to retrace this individual's steps prior to showing up and concealing himself outside this metro stop, where investigators say that he was hiding prior to opening fire. They're going to determine where in Washington, DC did he travel to. Exactly where did he stop along his route from Washington State? We know that he had a revolver with him, that it was loaded with four bullets. They're going to want to know where that revolver came from. Was that gun-- was that gun come about legally or illegally? And we know that the ATF is currently tracing that firearm as well. So that's something that investigators are going to look at. They're going to look at whether or not there were other weapons perhaps that the gunman had access to, if there were other plans or associates, if anyone else knew that he had plans to do this. Now, we should say at this point, we have no indication of that. But these are some of the lingering questions. In addition, was there a challenge with this suspected gunman's mental health? Now, we should say that he faces multiple charges. In fact, the suspect is charged with three counts of assault with the intent to kill while armed. He faces 15 years in prison now, but we do expect more charges, including what US attorney Jeanine Pirro referred to as murder one-- homicide charges for now, the death of 20-year-old specialist Sarah Beckstrom. So we do anticipate that the US attorney will take action to add more charges and to charge this suspected gunman with murder. And we also heard from the attorney general, Pam Bondi, earlier this morning, who said that if that happens, if the tragedy of one of these National Guard members passing away happens, that she will seek the death penalty in this case. So we now will be tracking that closely as we anticipate the Department of Justice will make an example out of this individual and will prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law. Nicole Sganga reporting for us from the nation's capital. And just to recap, for the viewers who may just be tuning in, the president, in a late night address on Thanksgiving night has revealed that Sarah Bergstrom has reportedly passed-- Beckstrom, I should say, has reportedly passed away at the age of 20. We will, of course, continue to follow this story for any developments. Stay with us. You're watching CBS News 24/7.