{"id":7807,"date":"2025-12-02T16:03:01","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T22:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/suspect-in-west-virginia-national-guard-shooting-pleads-not-guilty-in-d-c-court-2\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T16:03:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T22:03:01","slug":"suspect-in-west-virginia-national-guard-shooting-pleads-not-guilty-in-d-c-court-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/suspect-in-west-virginia-national-guard-shooting-pleads-not-guilty-in-d-c-court-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspect in West Virginia National Guard shooting pleads not guilty in D.C. court"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The man accused in the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard members in the District of Columbia pleaded not guilty in his Tuesday arraignment hearing, during which he appeared virtually from a hospital bed.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsfromthestates.com\/article\/one-national-guard-members-shot-attack-dc-has-died-trump-says\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died<\/a> as a result of her injuries, and U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in the hospital with severe wounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">D.C. Superior Court Magistrate Judge Renee Raymond denied bond for 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who officials allege drove across the United States to the district from his residence in Washington state. The guard members were attacked while on duty in a downtown neighborhood blocks from the White House.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cHe came across the country 3,000 miles, armed with a specific purpose in mind,\u201d Judge\u00a0Raymond said in her reasoning for denying him bond. \u201cThe government\u2019s case is exceedingly strong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/eaccess.dccourts.gov\/eaccess\/search.page.3?x=eplEegpx5X82ZLT4QLElNnUqhWsQEAhMeMKo3a0pgSRb1AOAZHrGgARH3XjDVIamQtjKjRwRbHW6kuL6uQ6Mm1bwt9hFRz0RQU8INDOjiSfC50gGeFmOuafji*efdt9ltXreIM2JUOPAa9fpaPwPgD9YVYhs3JyoPmmLq1E5RGM\" target=\"_blank\">filed charges<\/a> Tuesday for first-degree murder while armed; possession of a firearm; and assault with the intent to kill.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Lakanwal\u2019s next court date is Jan. 14.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe nature and circumstances of the instant offense, the strength of the government\u2019s case, and the sheer terror that resulted, that continues to animate because of his actions, leads me to conclude that no conditions or combination of conditions, will reasonably ensure the safety of the community,\u201d\u00a0Raymond said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">West Virginia Gov. Patrick\u00a0Morrisey\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/wvgovernor\/status\/1995947163688599706\" target=\"_blank\">wrote on social media<\/a> Tuesday that Wolfe \u201cremains in critical condition but is stable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cDoctors and the family are optimistic about his current progress and note that he has responded to some basic requests such as a thumbs up sign and wiggling his toes,\u201d Morrisey said.<\/p>\n<h4>Troops in the district<\/h4>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The West Virginia National Guard members\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsfromthestates.com\/article\/two-national-guard-members-west-virginia-wounded-targeted-shooting-dc\" target=\"_blank\">shot last week<\/a> are among the 2,000 troops stationed in the district since August, after President Donald Trump declared a \u201ccrime emergency.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Republican governors have offered to send their states\u2019 reserves of National Guard members to the nation\u2019s capital. A federal judge last month found the president\u2019s deployment of troops to the district illegal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Lakanwal was granted asylum this year after he came to the United States through a special humanitarian program for Afghanistan allies who served along American forces and had to flee the country after the Taliban took it over following the chaotic U.S. withdrawal in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The shooting that took place on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday has resulted in Trump expanding his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsfromthestates.com\/article\/white-house-intensifies-push-mass-deportation-after-national-guard-shooting\" target=\"_blank\">immigration crackdown<\/a> to include a halt to asylum applications, as well as increased scrutiny on visa applications from Afghan nationals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIn the wake of last week\u2019s atrocity, it is more important than ever to finish carrying out the president\u2019s mass deportation operation,\u201d White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at Monday\u2019s press briefing. \u201cThey must go back to their home countries.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4>Translator appears for Lakanwal<\/h4>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">During Tuesday\u2019s arraignment, Lakanwal seemed to thrash around in pain in his hospital bed. A translator also appeared virtually for Lakanwal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Lakanwal\u2019s lawyer raised concerns about U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, a former Fox News host, holding future press conferences, warning that could harm a \u201cfree and fair trial\u201d for Lakanwal. Pirro\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsfromthestates.com\/article\/one-national-guard-members-shot-attack-dc-has-died-trump-says\" target=\"_blank\">held a press conference\u00a0<\/a>on Thanksgiving morning to discuss the shooting.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe government at their own peril \u2026 continue to taint a potential jury pool against Mr. Lakanwal as a result of their press conferences,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Department of Defense press secretary\u00a0Kingsley Wilson said during a Tuesday briefing at the Pentagon that all National Guard members in the district would be armed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Following last week\u2019s shooting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he would request an additional 500 National Guard members be deployed in the district.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">It\u2019s unclear if that directive would violate a federal judge\u2019s order that found the August deployment unlawful. The federal judge stayed her Nov. 20 order for three weeks to give the administration time to either appeal or remove the troops. The Trump administration filed an emergency appeal after the shooting in the district.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Ashley Murray contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON \u2014 The man accused in the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard members in the District of Columbia pleaded not guilty in his Tuesday arraignment hearing, during which he appeared virtually from a hospital bed. U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died as a result of her injuries, and U.S. Air Force Staff&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Suspect in West Virginia National Guard shooting pleads not guilty in D.C. court - WestplexNews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/suspect-in-west-virginia-national-guard-shooting-pleads-not-guilty-in-d-c-court-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Suspect in West Virginia National Guard shooting pleads not guilty in D.C. court - WestplexNews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WASHINGTON \u2014 The man accused in the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard members in the District of Columbia pleaded not guilty in his Tuesday arraignment hearing, during which he appeared virtually from a hospital bed. 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