President Donald Trump on Wednesday night described the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard members by a suspect believed to be a 29-year-old Afghan national as a “heinous assault” and an act of evil, hatred and terror.
The two Guardsmen are in critical condition after what authorities described as a targeted, ambush-style attack. The suspect, identified as Rahmanullah Lakamal, was shot during the incident and is in custody with non-life-threatening injuries.
“It was a crime against our entire nation,” Trump said in a video address from West Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the Thanksgiving holiday. The address aired on Newsmax and the Newsmax2 free online streaming platform.
“It was a crime against humanity,” he said. “The hearts of all Americans tonight are with those two members of the West Virginia National Guard and their families.
“The love of our entire country is pouring out for them, and we are lifting them up in our prayers as we are filled with anguish and grief. For those who were shot, we’re also filled with righteous anger and ferocious resolve.
“As president of the United States, I am determined to ensure that the animal who perpetrated this atrocity pays the steepest possible price.”
Trump confirmed reports that the suspect entered the U.S. in 2021 following the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Lakamal was reportedly lying in wait before rounding a corner near the Farragut West Metro Station in Northwest D.C. at about 2:15 p.m. local time. He then opened fire, striking a female Guard member in the chest before shooting her in the head, law enforcement sources told the New York Post.
Lakamal, who entered the country under Operation Allies Welcome and later resettled in Bellingham, Washington, allegedly then fired at and struck the second Guard member. A third guard stationed nearby rushed to the area and took him down, the sources told the Post.
“I can report tonight that based on the best available information, the Department of Homeland Security is confident that the suspect in custody is a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan, a hellhole on earth,” Trump said. “He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021 on those infamous flights that everybody was talking about.
“Nobody knew who was coming in. Nobody knew anything about it.”
“This attack underscores the single greatest national security threat facing our nation,” he continued. “The last administration let in 20 million unknown and unvetted foreigners from all over the world, from places that you don’t want to even know about. No country can tolerate such a risk to our very survival.”
Trump also singled out Minnesota, accusing “hundreds of thousands of Somalians” of “ripping off our country and ripping apart that once great state.”
“As their representatives in our country preach to us about our constitution and how our country is no good, we’re not going to put up with these kind of assaults on law and order by people who shouldn’t even be in our country,” Trump said. “We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden, and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here.”
“If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them,” he added. “America will never bend and never yield in the face of terror, and at the same time, we will not be deterred from the mission.”
Trump closed by asking Americans this Thanksgiving “to say a prayer for the two great heroes who were so horribly shot and for their loved ones. Please say a prayer. May God bless them and comfort them.”