National Guard shooting victim Sarah Backstrom’s father pays heartbreaking tribute: Latest updates

There are 2,232 National Guard members seven states in Washington, D.C., according to law enforcement.

More than half are from out of state, including 180 members from West Virginia and 315 from Georgia.

Mississippi has deployed 277 members, Alabama sent in 197, and Ohio sent 152. There are also three members from South Carolina.

Refugee advocates and resettlement groups are speaking out against the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant response in the wake of the shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington, D.C. this week.

Suspected gunman Rahmanullah Lakanwal had worked in a special CIA-backed Afghan Army unit before emigrating from Afghanistan. He applied for asylum during the Biden administration and his asylum was approved this year under the Trump administration after an extensive vetting process.

Groups have warned against a reactionary response that demonizes Afghan allies and their families who have resettled in the United States.

There has been an “alarming vilification of an entire community based on the actions of a lone individual,” according to Evac Our Allies.

“No community, Afghan or otherwise, should be judged, demonized, or collectively punished for the behavior of one person. Such narratives cause real harm, inflame tensions, and overlook the truth: one individual does not represent millions. Collective blame is not only unjust but dangerous. It undermines the immense sacrifices our nation’s Afghan allies made, sacrifices that cost many their safety, their homes, their loved ones, and, in too many cases, their lives,” the group said.

AfghanEvac president Shawn VanDiver said in a statement that “Afghan immigrants and wartime allies who resettle in the United States undergo some of the most extensive security vetting of any population entering the country.

“As with any serious crime, authorities will examine how this happened and whether any systems failed — and we support a fact-based review. But nothing we learn will change the simple truth that this individual alone is responsible for his actions. This individual’s isolated and violent act should not be used as an excuse to define or diminish an entire community,” he added.

“Those who would twist this moment to attack Afghan families aren’t seeking safety or justice — they’re exploiting division and endangering all of us,” VanDiver said.

The administration blocked thousands of Afghan refugees from entering the country despite extensive vetting, and new restrictions on travel, legal protections and refugee admissions effectively block any new Afghans from entering while priming resettled Afghans for removal.

He now plans to “permanently pause” all immigration from what he called “third world countries” and “reverse migration” of those his administration deems “non-compatible with Western Civilization.”

That includes re-examining the status of green card holders from 19 countries “of concern,” including Afghanistan.

Attorney General Pam Bondi says the Department of Justice will seek the death penalty against Rahmanullah Lakanwal after his arrest in the shooting of two National Guard service members.

Charges have not yet entered a federal court system, though U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. Jeanine Pirro said the suspect will be charged with first-degree murder, among other assault and weapons charges.

Bondi said Thursday that prosecutors “will do everything in our power to seek the death penalty against that monster who should not have been in our country.”

President Donald Trump has vowed to “permanently pause” migration from “all third world countries” after a National Guard member was killed in an attack near the White House.

The president’s comments are a further escalation of his anti-immigration measures since entering office.

West Virginia National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom enlisted in June 2023, shortly after graduating high school. She was assigned to the 863rd Military Police Company and deployed to Washington, D.C., in August, when Trump ordered troops to the capital.

She was fatally shot during an attack Wednesday and died surrounded by family on Thanksgiving.

Her ex-boyfriend Adam Carr, who had started daying Beckstrom in high school, said he initially didn’t want to leave home because she was worried about feeling lonely away from family while she was deployed.

“She hated it. She cried about it,” Carr told NBC News.

But she came to enjoy her service in the capital, where her colleagues called her “Becky” and she visited the city’s monuments and museums and culture, he said.

She had the option to return to home sooner but elected to remain there longer.

“Sarah served with courage, extraordinary resolve, and an unwavering sense of duty to her state and to her nation. She answered the call to serve, stepped forward willingly, and carried out her mission with the strength and character that define the very best of the West Virginia National Guard,” West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey said in a statement.

Col. Larry Doane, the commander of the joint task force in the D.C. National Guard, called her a “hero” and mourned the “devastating loss” for the Guard.

Carr’s mother told the network she had a “heart of hold.”

U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom volunteered with the West Virginia National Guard after graduating from high school two years ago.

She died on Thanksgiving at age 20, succumbing from injuries in shooting attack near the White House one day earlier.

Her family joined her at her hospital bedside to say farewell.

“I’m holding her hand right now,” her father, Gary Beckstrom, told The New York Times on Thursday. “She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery.” That was all he would say.

He later posted on social media, “My baby girl has passed to glory. If I don’t talk to you don’t be offend this has been a horrible tragedy.”

Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin defended the Trump administration’s actions to severely restrict immigration into the United States from Afghanistan and other countries, including reviewing green card holders who could now be at risk of removal.

She also blamed the Biden administration for “extremely difficult and complex” vetting of Afghan nationals following U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Afghanistan “is now run by the Taliban while al-Qa’ida, ISIS-K, TTP, and other terrorist groups run rampant in Afghanistan — making the vetting of Afghan nationals extremely difficult and complex,” McLaughlin wrote. “Many hate our country and seek to bring it harm.”

But the agency painted a different picture of life in Afghanistan earlier this year when the administration stripped legal protections for thousands of people who lived and worked legally in the United States.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said their country has an “improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent [sic] them from returning to their home country.”

The agency also said “notable improvements” in Afghanistan’s national security, now under the control of the Taliban, and no longer “pose a threat to their personal safety due to armed conflict or extraordinary and temporary conditions.”

The notice in the federal register also claims that “the Taliban government is promoting tourism to shift its global image.”

“Tourism to Afghanistan has increased, as the rates of kidnappings have reduced,” the notice added. “Tourists are sharing their experiences on social media, highlighting the peaceful countryside, welcoming locals, and the cultural heritage, according to some reports.”

In the wake of a shooting that targeted National Guard troops, local law enforcement will be paired up with Guard service members on their patrols in Washington, D.C., according to an email obtained by The Washington Post.

“Officers will conduct high-visibility patrols with the National Guard and provide assistance as needed,” the message sent to D.C. leadership said.

The dynamic, if enacted for a longer-term basis, could mark a dramatic shift in how the U.S. military operates inside the country, as Donald Trump seeks to expand federalized troops in cities across the country despite boundaries that prevent military personnel from performing local law enforcement.

Last week, a federal judge barred Trump from deploying National Guard troops in the nation’s capital, which the administration has appealed to the D.C. appellate court.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, was originally from a village in the province of Khost in Afghanistan.

He reportedly served in the Afghan Army for 10 years alongside U.S. Special Forces as part of the global War on Terror.