National Guard Member Sarah Beckstrom Tragically Died the Week of Thanksgiving — Here's What Happened
Beckstrom was only 20 years old.
Published Dec. 5 2025, 1:08 p.m. ET
Sarah Beckstrom was a 20-year-old National Guard member who was serving in Trump's "D.C. Safe and Beautiful Mission." She was working the day before Thanksgiving so that others could be home with their families when she was shot, around 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
National Guardsman Andrew Wolfe, 24, was also critically injured and hospitalized. Here's what happened.
Here's what happened in the murder of Sarah Beckstrom.
The suspect in Beckstrom's murder is Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national from Washington State, according to NBC News. Lakanwal arrived in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, Nov. 26, at around 2:13 p.m. near Farragut West Metro Station, per the U.S. Attorney's office. He then opened fire on two National Guard members "without provocation."
Other guardsmen at the scene "responded immediately to engage and subdue the suspect."
Beckstrom was taken to the hospital for her injuries and tragically died on Nov. 27, 2025. In a Facebook tribute, Beckstrom's father said, "My baby girl has passed to glory ... This has been a horrible tragedy," per NBC News.
Beckstrom was from Webster Springs, W.V., and began her service on June 26, 2023. She was in the 863rd Military Police Company, the 111th Engineer Brigade, and is a U.S. Army specialist.
The National Guard has been deployed in Washington, D.C. since August under Trump's orders to crack down on crime.
Trump said, "I heard that Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia, one of the guardsmen that we’re talking about — highly respected, young, magnificent person, started service in June of 2023, outstanding in every way — she’s just passed away, she’s no longer with us. She’s looking down at us right now."
The shooting suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, previously worked alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The CIA stated, "Lakanwal, an Afghan national, worked with U.S. forces during the war in Afghanistan." A relative of his said that he came to the U.S. in September 2021 after serving in the Afghan army for 10 years alongside U.S. Special Forces troops, according to NBC News. They added that he was stationed in Kandahar.
The relative who spoke with NBC News served alongside Lakanwal and said, "I cannot believe it, that he might do this."
The CIA confirmed that he worked with a "CIA-backed military unit" during the war in Afghanistan. Lakanwal moved to the U.S. five months after President Joe Biden withdrew U.S. troops from Afghanistan. He was vetted by the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the FBI, and the National Counterterrorism Center before he entered the U.S., according to NBC News.
Lakanwal came to the U.S. under a "Biden-era" program and had not been granted "lawful permanent residence," but was granted asylum in April of 2025 by President Trump. Even so, the White House put the blame on Biden, saying, "This animal would have never been here if not for Joe Biden's dangerous policies," per NBC News.
Lakanwal is from Bellingham, Washington State, and was born in 1996. Officials used a digital "rapid fingerprint-type technology" to identify him. He was injured in the attack and was moved to a hospital and put under guard.