White House locked down after 2 National Guards shot in central Washington
Police in Washington, DC, the US capital, cordon off streets near the crime scene on November 26, 2025 local time, after 2 National Guard members were shot near the White House
Two National Guard members were shot on Wednesday afternoon local time in what appeared to be a “targeted” attack near the White House and are in critical condition, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said. The gunman was also shot and is in custody, authorities said, according to US media reports.
The shooting in the heart of Washington, DC, has prompted officials to lock down multiple government buildings, including the White House, reported USA Today.
According to CNN live updates, the gunman opened fire in Washington, DC’s Farragut Square — a tourist-heavy area located near a busy transit center and the White House – on the day before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal has been identified as the suspect, four senior law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation said, per the NBC News.
CNN News reported that the FBI believes the suspect is from Washington state who appears to have immigrated to the US from Afghanistan in 2021. The suspect applied for asylum in 2024, and it was granted earlier this year.
The FBI will initially investigate the shooting as a possible act of terrorism, according to NBC News citing two senior US law enforcement officials.
Writing on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump described the suspect who allegedly shot two members of the National Guard on Wednesday in dehumanizing terms, calling them an “animal” and saying that they “will pay a very steep price,” the NBC News report said.
“The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded, and now in two separate hospitals, is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price,” read the post.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said later on Wednesday that Trump had asked him, and he will in turn ask the Army secretary, to add 500 guard members to Washington after the shooting.
“This will only stiffen our resolve to ensure that we make Washington, DC, safe and beautiful,” Hegseth told reporters. “But if criminals want to conduct things like this, violence against America’s best, we will never back down.”
The rare shooting of National Guard members comes as the presence of the troops in the nation’s capital and other cities around the country has been a flashpoint issue for months, fueling court fights and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration’s use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem, according to media reports.
Police said a lone suspect opened fire on two National Guard members from West Virginia on Wednesday afternoon, before being subdued by other National Guard nearby who had heard the gunfire. President Donald Trump, who was in Florida at the time, said the alleged gunman was an Afghan national who entered the US in September 2021.
He vowed his administration would ensure the suspect “pays the steepest possible price” for “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror”.
The Department of Homeland Security named the suspect in a press release as Rahmanullah Lakamal, “a criminal alien from Afghanistan”. His immigration status was unclear.
Tens of thousands of Afghans entered the US under special immigration protections following the chaotic US withdrawal from that country in 2021 under former President Joe Biden.”We must now re-examine every alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden,” said Trump in a live address on Wednesday night.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services said it had halted processing of all Afghan immigration requests pending a review of vetting protocols.
A statement from Joint Task Force DC, which is co-ordinating the National Guard deployments to the nation’s capital, said the attack took place at around 14:15 EST (17:15 GMT) on Wednesday near the Farragut Square Metro Station.
Watch: US President Donald Trump says alleged gunman was Afghan national
The soldiers were on a high-visibility patrol near the corner of 17th and I streets, a busy lunch spot for office workers.
FBI Director Kash Patel – whose agency is leading the investigation – told a news conference the soldiers were “brazenly attacked in a horrendous act of violence”.
Metropolitan Police Assistant Chief Jeff Carroll said the suspect “came around the corner” and “immediately started firing a firearm”.
He said the soldiers had been “ambushed”.Other National Guard members nearby heard the gunfire and responded, he said. “They actually were able to intervene and to kind of hold down the suspect, after he had been shot, on the ground until law enforcement got there within moments,” Carroll said.
It is unclear what weapon was used in the assault. Nor was a motive immediately clear.The suspect was not co-operating with authorities, law enforcement sources told CBS on Wednesday night.The suspect was shot four times, said another law enforcement source.
President Trump – who is at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach – vowed to punish the attacker. “The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded, and now in two separate hospitals, is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price,” he wrote on Truth Social. “God bless our Great National Guard, and all of our Military and Law Enforcement,” he added.
US Vice-President JD Vance, who was addressing troops in Kentucky at the time of the attack, urged “everybody who’s a person of faith” to pray for the victims.
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey said in a post on X that both victims were members of his state’s National Guard and had died from their injuries.But he soon posted a second statement that cited “conflicting reports” about their condition.
The attack prompted a temporary stoppage at the city’s main airport on the eve of the US Thanksgiving holiday.Flights through Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were briefly grounded after the attack, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The intersection was full of police cars, armed security personnel and National Guard troops.Another witness who was in his car close to the metro station showed the BBC footage he took of the two soldiers lying on the street in their uniforms while being treated by medics.A third person, apparently the alleged gunman, was also on the pavement being treated.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the president had asked him to send 500 more National Guard members to Washington DC, following the attack.”This will only stiffen our resolve to ensure that we make Washington DC safe and beautiful,” the Pentagon chief said.
There are currently nearly 2,200 National Guard troops in Washington DC. The force includes contingents from the District of Columbia as well as Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia and Alabama.They are a reservist force that can be activated to serve as military troops, but have limited power as they cannot enforce the law or make arrests.The National Guard were deployed to Washington DC in August to tackle what Trump called “out of control” crime.
Two uniformed National Guardsmen stand close to a scene on the streets of Washington DC where two West Virginia National Guard members were shot.
Overall crime in the nation’s capital has fallen since the force was sent, which Trump credits to the troops’ presence on the streets. Washington DC police figures show 62 homicides (a category that includes murder) between 25 May and 25 November this year.
That compares with 107 homicides recorded in the same period last year.Nearly 6,500 offences have been recorded by police since 12 August, down from about 9,500 in the same period in 2024.
Trump, a Republican, has sent the National Guard to Democratic-led US cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Memphis. He argues the deployments were needed to tackle crime, but opponents legally challenged the moves, accusing the White House of overreach.
