Nov. 26 (UPI) — Two West Virginia National Guardsmen have been hospitalized in critical condition and a suspect is hospitalized after a targeted shooting near the White House on Wednesday afternoon.
The Guardsmen and the shooter were taken to nearby hospitals after the shooting occurred about two blocks northwest of the White House at 2:15 p.m. EST on Wednesday, WTTG reported.
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey earlier said the two Guardsmen were killed, but he later backtracked and affirmed they are in critical condition.
The suspect has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who is a citizen of Afghanistan, the New York Post, NBC News and Newsweek reported.
The FBI said it is investigating the attack as a possible act of terrorism.
Lakanwal is a lone gunman who ambushed the two National Guardsmen when he came from around a corner and started shooting, said Jeffrey Carroll, MPD executive assistant chief, who addressed media during a news conference.
The National Guard members were on “high-visibility patrol … when a suspect came around a corner, raised his arm with a firearm and discharged at the National Guard members,” Carroll said.
Other National Guardsmen were nearby and intervened.
Carroll said there was “some back and forth” between the suspect and National Guard members, who were able to subdue him until local police arrived moments later.
At a news conference afterward, FBI Director Kash Patel called the targeting shooting “an attack on a federal law enforcement officer” and said it will be treated as such at the federal level.
He said the FBI, Secret Service, other federal agencies and local police will work together to investigate the shooting, which he called a “matter of national security.”
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said local officials will “join with the FBI director in ensuring that the MPD investigates and the U.S. attorney prosecutes this case to the fullest extent of the law.”
There are no other suspects in the shooting, authorities said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump was briefed on the matter, and White House staff are monitoring the situation.
The president afterward expressed his support for the two wounded Guardsmen.
“The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded, and now in two separate hospitals, is also severely wounded,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
He said the suspect “will pay a very steep price” for the shooting that so far lacks a known motive.
“God bless our great National Guard and all of our military and law enforcement,” the president said. “These are truly great people.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the president has ordered him to deploy 500 more National Guard members to the capital, The New York Times reported.
About 2,100 National Guard members already are deployed in the capital.
The shooting occurred at the intersection of 17th Street and H Street Northwest.