Two soldiers from the United States national guard were shot and critically injured near the White House in what officials described as a targeted ambush.
The suspect is in custody after suffering gunshot wounds during the incident that happened on Thursday morning AEDT.
Investigators identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national from Washington state, according to two Trump administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism, one official said.
Lakanwal came to the US in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, according to the second official, a program under former US president Joe Biden to resettle thousands of Afghans who helped the US during the Afghanistan war and were vulnerable to reprisals from the Taliban.
FBI director Kash Patel said the two soldiers were in critical condition. Source: AP / Mark Schiefelbein
Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved on 23 April, according to the official, three months after President Donald Trump took office. He has no criminal history.
Trump, who was at his resort in Florida at the time of the attack, released a prerecorded video statement calling the shooting "an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror".
He said his administration would "re-examine" all Afghans who came to the US during Biden's presidency.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency later said that it has halted processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely, "pending further review of security and vetting protocols".
White House locked down
The attack prompted the White House to go into lockdown as law enforcement from multiple federal and city agencies swarmed the area.
The White House was sent into lockdown due to the shooting. Source: AP / Mark Schiefelbein
After an exchange of gunfire, other national guard members were able to subdue the suspect, they said.
The two wounded soldiers were in critical condition at local hospitals, Federal Bureau of Investigation director Kash Patel said.
West Virginia governor Patrick Morrisey had initially said in a post on X that both victims were members of his state's national guard and had died from their injuries. But he soon posted a second statement that cited "conflicting reports" about their condition.
The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear, but officials said they believe the shooter acted alone. The identities of the victims have not been made public.
The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear, but officials said they believe the shooter acted alone. Source: AAP / AP / Rahmat Gul
In a social media post, Trump said the suspected shooter would "pay a very steep price" and praised the national guard.
More national guard troops to be deployed
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Trump had asked for 500 additional national guard soldiers to be deployed to Washington in the wake of the shooting.
National guard soldiers have been in Washington since August, when Trump deployed them to the streets as part of his contentious immigration and crime crackdown targeting Democratic-led cities.
National guard troops have been in Washington since August, when they were deployed by US President Donald Trump. Source: AP / Mark Schiefelbein
Trump has repeatedly suggested crime has disappeared from the capital as a result of the deployment, an assertion at odds with the police department's official crime statistics.
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