The man accused of shooting two members of the National Guard in an attack in the United States capital of Washington, DC has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and assault.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, appeared remotely for his first court appearance on Tuesday via video from a hospital bed. Lakanwal was also shot in the incident, and his lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
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A judge in Washington said that the Wednesday shooting caused “sheer terror” in the country’s capital and ordered that Lakanwal, who formerly served with a CIA-trained unit in his native Afghanistan during the US occupation of that country, be held without bond.
Two members of the National Guard, deployed by the Trump administration to Washington, DC as part of an anti-crime effort, were targeted in the attack.
A 20-year-old specialist named Sarah Beckstrom was killed, and 24-year-old Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe was wounded in the shooting, which Republicans quickly used to call for greater restrictions on immigration to the US.
Prosecutors allege that Lakanwal travelled from Washington state on the other side of the country to Washington, DC to carry out the deadly attack.
US news outlets have reported that Lakanwal, evacuated from Afghanistan after the collapse of the US-backed government in 2021, had grown increasingly despondent about the direction of his life after the war, becoming isolated and prompting concern about his mental state from associates.
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