Trump Calls White House-Area Guard Shooting an ‘Act of Terror,’ Orders 500 More Troops

President Donald Trump denounced Wednesday’s ambush shooting of two National Guard soldiers near the White House as “an act of terror” and directly attributed the attack to the Biden administration’s 2021 evacuation of Afghan nationals, declaring that the suspect “was flown in from hellhole Afghanistan” during that chaotic withdrawal.

In a late-night video address from Mar-a-Lago, Trump described the point-blank attack on the West Virginia Guardsmen as “a monstrous ambush-style assault” carried out “just steps away from the White House,” labeling the perpetrator an “animal” who would “pay a very steep price.” He immediately ordered the Pentagon to surge 500 additional troops to Washington, D.C., joining the 2,200 already deployed under his nationwide public-safety initiative.

The suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who entered the United States through the Special Immigrant Visa program for interpreters and allies, allegedly ambushed the high-visibility patrol near Farragut Square. After shooting a female soldier multiple times, he seized her weapon and wounded her male partner before being neutralised by return fire from a third Guardsman. Both victims remain in critical condition; Lakanwal, shot four times, is hospitalised under guard.

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Trump announced that every Afghan admitted during the Biden-era airlift must now face re-examination, stating, “We must re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden” and pledging removal of any individual deemed a security risk. Justice Department sources confirmed Lakanwal had overstayed his visa and was residing illegally at the time of the attack.

The incident has intensified political fallout over the 2021 evacuation, with the FBI and Department of Justice investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed federal jurisdiction, while the additional troop deployment signals an escalation of the administration’s strategy to reinforce Democratic-led cities with National Guard forces through the summer of 2026.

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