Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, one of two National Guard troops shot in an attack in Washington, D.C. near the White House last week, is slowly recovering, officials said.
“Andrew remains in serious condition,” West Virginia Governor Craig Caplan said at a news conference Monday. “We did have some positive news: we were told that Andrew was asked if he could hear, the nurse who asked the question [asked him] to give a thumbs up and he responded. And we were told he was wiggling his toes too.”
Army Sp. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, the other West Virginia Guard member shot in the attack, died from her wounds last week.
About 170 members of the West Virginia Guard remain active in the capital, officials said.
The Guard is reeling from the attack, with Afghan national and former U.S. intelligence official Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, accused of turning a corner and opening fire on troops not far from the White House.
Officials later shot and subdued Lakanwal, who was arrested and hospitalized.
The 29-year-old now faces federal murder charges.
Prior to his alleged role in the attack, Lakanwal worked with the CIA in Afghanistan as part of a paramilitary ‘Zero Unit’ and served in the Afghan army alongside US Special Forces for about a decade.
Lakanwal was brought to the US as part of 2021’s Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program aimed at resettling Afghans who had assisted the United States in its fight against the Taliban, which has taken in about 76,000 people.
The Trump administration granted Lakanwal’s asylum request in April.
Lakanwal and his family were living in a furnished apartment in Bellingham, Washington state, prior to the shooting.
The former soldier was reportedly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of the shooting.
After the shooting, the Trump administration suspended all asylum decisions, and the president has pledged to “permanently pause” migration from “all Third World countries,” although he does not have the power to unilaterally make immigration laws.
The Trump administration has ordered 500 additional National Guard troops to bolster the administration’s ongoing military operation in the capital.
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