“I think the guy’s going to live. Nobody’s going to be able to say anything and he’s going to stand trial,” a law enforcement official told The Post, providing an update on the condition of alleged shooter Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29.
“I know that he underwent surgery the night it happened,” said the official, who noted that the trial process would require prosecutors to hold back information on Lakanwal, who allegedly fired on two West Virginia National Guard members just blocks from the White House on Nov. 26.
Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died on Thanksgiving, the day after the ambush.
A spokesperson for Joint Task Force — DC, which oversees the deployment, said Saturday there were no updates on the second Guard member, Andrew Wolfe.
He was in critical condition following the shooting.
“Andrew is fighting for his life right now,” West Virginia Gov. Patrick James Morrisey told Fox & Friends Saturday.
US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said Friday the government will bring charges of first-degree murder against the alleged gunman.
“There are certainly many more charges to come, but we are upgrading the initial charges of assault to murder in the first degree,” she said following the death of Beckstrom.
A hero National Guard member who responded to the incident armed only with a pocket knife took down the suspect, according to reports.
Lakanwal “disappeared” about two weeks before the attack, according to a neighbor, and drove across the country from his home in Bellingham, Washington, officials said.
He allegedly pulled out a .357 Magnum-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver and fired on the Guardsmen, shooting Beckstrom in the head and chest.
According to lawyer and strategist Mike Davis, who spoke to law enforcement sources immediately after the incident, one Guard member stabbed the suspect in the head multiple times, while another shot him in the leg and buttocks.
Lakanwal was nearly naked when authorities took him away from the scene in an ambulance.
According to lawyer and strategist Mike Davis, who spoke to law enforcement sources immediately after the incident, one Guard member stabbed the suspect in the head multiple times, while another shot him in the leg and buttocks.
It was not immediately known what type of surgery doctors performed on him.
Authorities have not provided updates on either his medical condition or the motive of his shocking attack.
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CIA Director John Ratcliffe said following the shooting that Lakanwal had worked with the CIA in Afghanistan.