The suspect in the shooting of two West Virginia national guard soldiers in Washington DC on the eve of Thanksgiving had been struggling with his mental health, sometimes spending “weeks on end” in isolation, as he tried to assimilate in the years since arriving in the United States, it has emerged.
According to emails obtained by the Associated Press, Rahmanullah Lakanwal’s mental health had been unravelling for years, leaving him unable to hold a job and flipping between long, dark stretches of isolation and taking sudden, weeks-long cross-country drives.
The emails reveal mounting warnings about Lakanwal, whose erratic conduct raised alarms long before last week’s attack. His behavior deteriorated so sharply that a community advocate reached out to a refugee organization for help, fearing he was becoming suicidal.
They did not, however, see any indication that Lakanwal would commit violence against another person.
Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was killed in the shooting, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition. Lakanwal, 29, has been charged with first-degree murder. He was shot by another national guard member during the incident and is also hospitalized.
In Afghanistan, Lakanwal worked in a special CIA-backed Afghan army unit known as a Zero Unit. He entered the US in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the chaotic US withdrawal. Many had worked alongside US troops and diplomats.
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