Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday that the suspect in the National Guardsmen shooting in Washington, D.C. could receive the death penalty.
Two National Guardsmen were critically injured after a suspect, identified as 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, opened fire on them on Wednesday. Bondi said the suspect’s charges will be based on the victims’ prognosis, adding that the guardsmen volunteered to work on Thanksgiving so others could enjoy the holiday.
“Just pray, everyone pray today for these two soldiers, these two guardsmen, the man and woman, but if something happens, I will tell you right now, I will tell you early, we will do everything in our power to seek the death penalty against that monster who should not have been in our country,” Bondi said on Fox News’s Fox & Friends.
Bondi also said the investigation into the suspect is still active, and her national security division is involved in it. She added that the investigators are working “at light speed” to ensure justice is delivered.
The attorney general also dished criticism against Democratic lawmakers’ “disgusting” criticism of National Guard deployment across the nation. She said investigators are looking at “everything” these lawmakers have said, and whether they encouraged acts of violence.
“It’s actually sad what our country has come to with these progressive Left idiots who are doing this and saying this about our heroes who are keeping them safe, and some of the people, let me continue, who are saying this, they have security details to keep them safe. It’s unbelievable to me,” Bondi said.
ALLEGED DC NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS PREVIOUSLY WORKED FOR US GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, INCLUDING CIA
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro identified the two victims in Wednesday’s shooting as Andrew Wolfe, 24, and Sarah Beckstrom, 20.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth said President Donald Trump asked him to send 500 additional troops to D.C. The president has blamed his predecessor for allowing the shooting’s suspect into the United States four years ago, when the Biden administration launched “Operation Allies Welcome” after the country’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.