WASHINGTON — Accused DC Nationwide Guard shooter Rahmanullah Lakanwal may face the loss of life penalty after he was hit with federal first-degree homicide costs on Tuesday.
Prosecutors additionally alleged that the Afghan refugee tried to purchase much more weapons earlier than his assault on American troops on Nov. 26.
The legal grievance, filed in DC US District Courtroom, introduced the gun-related, assault and homicide counts in opposition to the 29-year-old father of 5 for the taking pictures of West Virginia Nationwide Guard troopers Sarah Beckstrom, who later died, and Andrew Wolfe, who continues to be recovering from his wounds.
Jeanine Pirro, the US Lawyer for the District of Columbia, stated the case is transferred from Superior Courtroom to the District Courtroom in an escalation of doable penalties for the alleged shooter.
The motion “ensures that we will undertake the intense, deliberate, and weighty evaluation required to find out if the loss of life penalty is suitable right here,” Pirro stated. “Sarah Beckstrom was simply 20 years outdated when she was killed and her dad and mom are actually pressured to endure the vacation season with out their daughter. Andrew Wolfe, by the grace of God, survived however has an extended highway forward in his restoration.”
The FBI revealed that Lakanwal bought a stolen .357 magnum-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver for the taking pictures about two weeks earlier than he drove throughout the nation from his house in Bellingham, Wash.
On Oct. 15, he additionally contacted a person to “discover” much more firearms for him — together with an AR-15 rifle and a stockless, AK-47-style “Draco” pistol — however solely ended up having the ability to get his arms on a revolver, the affidavit alleged.
It had beforehand been reported stolen from a house in Washington state.
Lakanwal claimed he wanted a gun “for cover in his car as a Lyft and Uber driver,” however the individual he mentioned getting the weapons from famous he remarked of the revolver: “solely 5 rounds?”
On Nov. 15, he purchased a field of .357 magnum-caliber rounds from Huge 5 Sporting Items in Bellingham, in accordance with CCTV footage and a purchase order receipt.
Lakanwal is accused of taking pictures Wolfe, a 24-year-old Air Pressure employees sergeant who has since made a “miraculous” restoration at a close-by hospital, and Beckstrom, a 20-year-old Military specialist who died from the gunshot wound on Thanksgiving Day.
The ambush assault, simply two blocks from the White Home, was additionally captured on video cameras, with Lakanwal proven “firing within the route of Beckstrom and Wolfe,” each of whom have been seen “collapsing on the bottom” after, in addition to “chasing and taking pictures” at one other Guardsman.
The FBI stated Lakanwal “purposely and with deliberate and premeditated malice, killed Beckstrom by taking pictures her within the head with a firearm” and “by taking pictures Wolfe within the head with a firearm … assaulted Wolfe with intent to kill him,” in accordance with the seven-page submitting.
The extra federal firearms costs included “transporting or receiving firearms in interstate or international commerce with the intent to commit an offense punishable by imprisonment for a couple of yr,” “transporting or delivery a stolen firearm in interstate or international commerce” and “possession of a firearm throughout crime of violence or harmful offense.”
Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi beforehand stated federal prosecutors would search the loss of life penalty, however the added costs signify the seriousness of that effort.
DC prosecutors already indicted Lakanwal earlier this month for first-degree homicide, assault with intent to kill whereas armed and possession of a firearm throughout against the law of violence. He pleaded not responsible.
Lakanwal served as a part of an elite, CIA-backed paramilitary drive combating in opposition to the Taliban earlier than being evacuated to the US as a part of “Operation Allies Welcome” underneath former President Joe Biden — following the chaotic and botched withdrawal of American forces from Kabul in August 2021.
An ISIS-Okay suicide bomber killed 13 US service members through the closing pullout from the capital metropolis’s airport.
Trump administration officers have since claimed that Lakanwal was not totally vetted — and Nationwide Counterterrorism Middle Director Joe Kent has testified to Congress that of the roughly 88,000 individuals evacuated from Afghanistan, at the very least 2,000 have ties to terror teams.
“These people, regardless of what has been reported, weren’t vetted correctly to come back into the US,” Kent informed members of the Home Homeland Safety Committee in a Dec. 11 listening to. “The person terrorist who dedicated the assault in DC, he was vetted to function a soldier in Afghanistan.”
Since coming into the nation, Lakanwal served briefly as a Lyft driver till Might 25, 2025, however “had been banned by Uber,” the affidavit said.
“In keeping with an interview with one other member of the family in November 2025, Lakanwal had not been employed for about two months previous to the taking pictures,” it additionally famous.
US Customs and Border Safety was later capable of monitor his car passing by means of Washington State, Idaho and Illinois earlier than arriving three days earlier than the taking pictures in DC, the affidavit additionally alleged.
The FBI “lawfully obtained location historical past knowledge” from his cellular phone exhibiting him driving by means of Mishawaka, Ind., and coming into DC over the identical time interval.
Lakanwal’s subsequent look in DC Superior Courtroom is scheduled for Jan. 2
