Guard member who survived D.C. attack’ shows signs of improvement, West Virginia says

The National Guard member hospitalized in critical condition after a fellow guard member was fatally shot near the White House is improving, West Virginia’s governor said Monday.

Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, of the West Virginia Air National Guard, has shown signs of improvement, including responding to a nurse’s request that he display thumbs-up, Gov. Patrick Morrisey said at a news conference.

“We were told that he also wiggled his toes,” he said. “So we take that as a positive sign.”

Wolfe was hospitalized in critical condition after the attack Wednesday, which that killed Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, of the West Virginia Army National Guard. President Donald Trump said the following day that Wolfe was “fighting for his life.”

On Monday, Morrisey described Wolfe, who is from Martinsburg, as being in serious condition but cautioned against using his update as a definitive medical evaluation. “I’m not the doctor,” he said.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, is accused in the deadly attack near the White House. Lakanwal, an Afghan national who worked to support U.S. troops in Afghanistan, immigrated to the United States in 2021, under President Joe Biden, and was granted asylum during Trump’s second term.

Lakanwal, who was injured, remained hospitalized, officials said. He will be charged with first-degree murder, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., said last week.

In the wake of the attack, the White House said it would halt all asylum decisions and pause issuing visas for people traveling on Afghan passports.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the shooting “appeared to target these guardsmen.” Both were among the first deployed to the district in August under Trump’s aggressive crime-fighting plan that federalized the D.C. police force.

After the shooting, the Trump administration ordered 500 more National Guard troops to be deployed to D.C. Morrisey said that none were requested from West Virginia this time but that the roughly 170 from his state who remain in the city are doing so voluntarily.

He said Wolfe’s family, whom he called “wonderful people,” are asking the public to pray for their son.

“The mom has been such a positive force,” he said. “She has been asking people across the country to pray for her son. Those prayers are working.”

Morrisey said Beckstrom’s family is finalizing memorial arrangements. She was a member of the West Virginia National Guard’s 863rd Military Police Company, according to an Army National Guard statement. She enlisted in June 2023, it said.

Over the weekend, multiple events to honor the shooting victims took place across West Virginia and beyond. They included events at churches, on military bases and at the West Virginia high schools both attended. A ceremony was also held Monday at the 130th Airlift Wing headquarters at McLaughlin Air National Guard Base in Charleston, according to the West Virginia National Guard.

Maj. Gen. Jim Seward, the state’s adjutant general, said in a video statement Sunday: “Both of these guardsmen have served with honor and distinction. They represent the very best of America.”

On Sunday, Trump said he invited the families of both victims to the White House.

“I said, ‘When you’re ready,’ because that’s a tough thing,” he said.