WASHINGTON — Accused DC National Guard shooter Rahmanullah Lakanwal could face the death penalty after he was hit with federal first-degree murder charges on Tuesday.
Prosecutors also alleged that the Afghan refugee tried to buy even more guns before his attack on American troops on Nov. 26.
The criminal complaint, filed in DC US District Court, brought the gun-related, assault and murder counts against the 29-year-old father of five for the shooting of West Virginia National Guard soldiers Sarah Beckstrom, who later died, and Andrew Wolfe, who is still recovering from his wounds.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said the case is transferred from Superior Court to the District Court in an escalation of possible consequences for the alleged shooter.
The action “ensures that we can undertake the serious, deliberate, and weighty analysis required to determine if the death penalty is appropriate here,” Pirro said. “Sarah Beckstrom was just 20 years old when she was killed and her parents are now forced to endure the holiday season without their daughter. Andrew Wolfe, by the grace of God, survived but has a long road ahead in his recovery.”
The FBI revealed that Lakanwal purchased a stolen .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson revolver for the shooting about two weeks before he drove across the country from his home in Bellingham, Wash.
On Oct. 15, he also contacted an individual to “find” even more firearms for him — including an AR-15 rifle and a stockless, AK-47-style “Draco” pistol — but only ended up being able to get his hands on a revolver, the affidavit alleged.
It had previously been reported stolen from a home in Washington state.
Lakanwal claimed he needed a gun “for protection in his vehicle as a Lyft and Uber driver,” but the person he discussed getting the weapons from noted he remarked of the revolver: “only five rounds?”
On Nov. 15, he bought a box of .357 Magnum rounds from Big 5 Sporting Goods in Bellingham, according to CCTV footage and a purchase receipt.
Lakanwal is accused of shooting Wolfe, a 24-year-old Air Force staff sergeant who has since made a “miraculous” recovery at a nearby hospital, and Beckstrom, a 20-year-old Army specialist who died from the gunshot wound on Thanksgiving Day.
The ambush attack, just two blocks from the White House, was also captured on video cameras, with Lakanwal shown “firing in the direction of Beckstrom and Wolfe,” both of whom were seen “collapsing on the ground” after, as well as “chasing and shooting” at another Guardsman.
The FBI said Lakanwal “purposely and with deliberate and premeditated malice, killed Beckstrom by shooting her in the head with a firearm” and “by shooting Wolfe in the head with a firearm … assaulted Wolfe with intent to kill him,” according to the seven-page filing.
The additional federal firearms charges included “transporting or receiving firearms in interstate or foreign commerce with the intent to commit an offense punishable by imprisonment for more than one year,” “transporting or shipping a stolen firearm in interstate or foreign commerce” and “possession of a firearm during crime of violence or dangerous offense.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi previously said federal prosecutors would seek the death penalty, but the added charges signify the seriousness of that effort.
DC prosecutors already indicted Lakanwal earlier this month for first-degree murder, assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. He pleaded not guilty.
Lakanwal served as part of an elite, CIA-backed paramilitary force fighting against the Taliban before being evacuated to the US as part of “Operation Allies Welcome” under President Joe Biden — following the chaotic and botched withdrawal of American forces from Kabul in August 2021.
An ISIS-K suicide bomber killed 13 US service members during the final pullout from the capital city’s airport.
Trump administration officials have since claimed that Lakanwal was not fully vetted — and National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent has testified to Congress that of the roughly 88,000 people evacuated from Afghanistan, at least 2,000 have ties to terror groups.
“These individuals, despite what has been reported, were not vetted properly to come into the United States,” Kent told members of the House Homeland Security Committee in a Dec. 11 hearing. “The individual terrorist who committed the attack in DC, he was vetted to serve as a soldier in Afghanistan.”
Since coming into the country, Lakanwal served briefly as a Lyft driver until May 25, 2025, but “had been banned by Uber,” the affidavit stated.
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“According to an interview with another family member in November 2025, Lakanwal had not been employed for approximately two months prior to the shooting,” it also noted.
US Customs and Border Protection was later able to track his vehicle passing through Washington state, Idaho and Illinois before arriving three days before the shooting in DC, the affidavit also alleged.
The FBI “lawfully obtained location history data” from his cellphone showing him driving through Mishawaka, Ind., and coming into DC over the same time period.
Lakanwal’s next appearance in DC Superior Court is scheduled for Jan. 2.
