Suspect in National Guard shootings pleads not guilty to murder and assault

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who had worked with U.S. forces and the CIA in Afghanistan before arriving in the U.S. in 2021, pleaded not guilty from a hospital

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Federal prosecutors charged a man suspected of shooting two National Guard members — one of whom later died — with first-degree murder and assault with intent to kill.

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Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national who had worked with U.S. forces and the CIA in Afghanistan before arriving in the U.S. in 2021, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in Washington DC. He pleaded not guilty in a video arraignment from a hospital, the AP reported Tuesday.

Lakanwal is charged with first-degree murder for the death of Sarah Beckstrom, 20, a National Guard member from West Virginia, assault with intent to kill and firearms offences.

Andrew Wolfe, another National Guardsman from West Virginia, was wounded in the November 26 attack and remains in critical condition.