00:00Yesterday on Thanksgiving Eve at approximately 2.15, near 17th and I Streets in the northwest section of the district, near the Farragut West Metro Station, two uniformed guardsmen were ambushed in a brazen and targeted attack.
00:19A lone gunman opened fire without provocation, ambush style, armed with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver. One guardsman is struck, goes down, and then the shooter leans over and strikes the guardsman again. Another guardsman is struck several times.
00:42Fellow guardsmen who were there responded immediately, engaging the suspect, neutralizing the threat, and subduing him at the scene. He was transported to a local hospital, where he remains, as we speak, under heavy guard.
00:59Thanks to the swift and coordinated response of the National Guard and the Metropolitan Police Department, no additional victims were harmed, and the scene was secured within minutes.
01:12The suspect, he has been identified as Ramanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan who entered the United States under Biden's Operation Allies Welcome, a program following the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
01:32He resided in Bellingham, Washington, with his wife and, we believe, five children.
01:41And we're working very closely with our federal partners, especially DHS and the FBI, to review his immigration history and the vetting process itself.
01:52What we know about him is that he drove his vehicle across country from the state of Washington with the intended target of coming to our nation's capital.
Be the first to comment