Man Accused of Shooting National Guard Members Struggled With ‘Dark Isolation’: Report

According to an AP News report, the Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard members just blocks from the White House had been unraveling for years, unable to keep a job and cycling between long periods of isolation.

Community members say Rahmanullah Lakanwal’s behavior deteriorated so severely that one advocate contacted a refugee organization, fearing he was becoming suicidal.

Emails show mounting warnings about the asylum-seeker, whose increasingly erratic conduct raised alarms long before the attack that shook the nation’s capital.

When the community member who works with Afghan families in Washington state saw Lakanwal named as the suspect, they said they were stunned. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to share undisclosed details while cooperating with the FBI.

West Virginia National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was killed in the shooting, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was critically wounded. Lakanwal, 29, has been charged with first-degree murder.

In Afghanistan, Lakanwal served in a special Afghan Army unit known as a Zero Unit, which was backed by the CIA. He entered the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, the program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the American withdrawal.

As investigators search for a motive, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press that officials “believe he was radicalized since he’s been here in this country. We do believe it was through connections in his home community and state, and we’re going to continue to talk to those who interacted with him, who were his family members.”

Noem explained how the Biden Administration failed to vet Lakanwal.

The Biden Administration created one of the worst national security crisis in American history with the abandonment of Afghanistan. Biden let into our country nearly 100,000 unvetted Afghan aliens — figuring out who they were and their intentions when they were already on… pic.twitter.com/DhWUs2E28g

— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) November 30, 2025

Lakanwal resettled with his wife and five sons, all under 12, in Bellingham, Washington, but struggled, according to the community member who shared emails sent to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a nonprofit serving refugees.

“Rahmanullah has not been functional as a person, father and provider since March of last year, 03/2023. He quit his job that month, and his behavior has changed greatly,” the person wrote in a January 2024 email.

The emails described a man unable to assimilate, hold a steady job, or maintain attendance in English courses, cycling instead between “periods of dark isolation and reckless travel.”

At times, he spent weeks in his “darkened room, not speaking to anyone, not even his wife or older kids.” In 2023, the family faced eviction at one point after months of unpaid rent.

More over at AP News:

‘Suspect in National Guard attack struggled with ‘dark isolation’ as community raised concerns’ https://t.co/NDogDe4cOA

— Alex Plitsas 🇺🇸 (@alexplitsas) November 30, 2025