<figure id="attachment_3225979" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3225979" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3225979" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/6171a450-sarah-beckstrom.jpg" alt="Sarah Beckstrom" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3225979" class="wp-caption-text">Mourners leave tributes at the site where two National Guard members were shot, resulting in Sarah Beckstrom’s death in Washington. (EPA Images pic)</figcaption></figure>
WASHINGTON: An Afghan man accused of shooting two members of the National Guard near the White House, killing one, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to murder charges.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who was injured during last month&#8217;s attack, entered the plea by video feed from a hospital bed, US media reported.
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 Nov 26 attack and is in critical condition.
Magistrate Judge Renee Raymond ordered Lakanwal detained until the next hearing in the case on Jan 14.
Attorney general Pam Bondi has said she plans to seek the death penalty for Lakanwal, who entered the United States as part of a resettlement programme following the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Lakanwal had been part of a CIA-backed &#8220;partner force&#8221; fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to US officials.
According to a criminal complaint filed on Tuesday, Lakanwal ambushed Beckstrom and Wolfe while they were on a routine patrol outside a metro station in downtown Washington.
Another National Guard member who was on the scene was quoted in the complaint as saying that he saw Lakanwal open fire and scream &#8220;Allahu Akbar!&#8221;
The National Guard soldier drew his weapon, shot and wounded Lakanwal and then restrained him as he attempted to reload his gun, the complaint said.
US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem said over the weekend that Lakanwal may have been radicalised after entering the United States.
A resident of the western US state of Washington, he allegedly drove cross-country to carry out the shooting &#8211; an attack that shocked Americans on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday.
President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration suspended visas for all Afghan nationals following the attack and froze decisions in all asylum cases.
Lakanwal was granted asylum in April 2025, under the Trump administration, but officials have blamed what they called lax vetting by the government of Trump&#8217;s predecessor Joe Biden for his admission to US soil during the Afghan airlift.

MatchPoint Times

Afghan man pleads not guilty in US National Guard shooting

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