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The suspect in the shooting of two West Virginia national guard soldiers in Washington DC on the eve of Thanksgiving had been struggling with his mental health, sometimes spending “weeks on end” in isolation, as he struggled to assimilate in the years since arriving in the United States, it has emerged.
According to emails obtained by the Associated Press, Rahmanullah Lakanwal’s mental health had been unravelling for years, leaving him unable to hold a job and flipping between long, dark stretches of isolation and taking sudden weeks-long cross-country drives.
The emails reveal mounting warnings about Lakanwal, whose erratic conduct raised alarms long before last week’s attack. His behavior deteriorated so sharply that a community advocate reached out to a refugee organization for help, fearing he was becoming suicidal. They did not, however, see any indication that Lakanwal would commit violence against another person.
Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was killed in the shooting, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition. Lakanwal, 29, has been charged with first-degree murder. He was shot by another national guard member during the incident and is also hospitalized.
In Afghanistan, Lakanwal worked in a special CIA-backed Afghan army unit known as a Zero Unit. He entered the US in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the chaotic US withdrawal. Many had worked alongside US troops and diplomats.
He resettled in the US with his wife and their five sons, all under the age of 12, in Bellingham, Washington, but struggled to assimilate, according to the community member.
The emails described a man who was unable to hold a steady job or commit to his English courses while he alternated between “periods of dark isolation and reckless travel”. Sometimes, he spent weeks in his “darkened room, not speaking to anyone, not even his wife or older kids”. At one point in 2023, the family faced eviction after months of not paying rent.
In one email sent on 31 January 2024, a case worker said Lakanwal had “not been functional as a person, father and provider since March of last year, 03/2023”.
The case worker, who supported many Afghan families and spoke to Lakanwal through an interpreter, described him as a very gracious host, chatty and charismatic to CBS News, adding that a severe turn in his personality was noticeable in 2024.
A former Afghan commando told the outlet that Lakanwal was left deeply troubled by the death of a close friend and fellow Afghan commander in 2024, whom the former commando said had unsuccessfully sought asylum in the US.
But then, there were also “interim” weeks where Lakanwal would try to make amends and “do the right things”, according to the emails, re-engaging with the Washington state department of social and health services as was mandated by the terms of his entry into the US. “But that has quickly evolved into ‘manic’ episodes for one or two weeks at a time, where he will take off in the family car, and drive nonstop,” the email stated. Once, he went to Chicago, and another time, to Arizona.
In response to the two emails, the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) visited Bellingham a few weeks later in March 2024 and attempted to make contact with Lakanwal and his family, the AP reported.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney in the District of Columbia, said last week that Lakanwal drove across the country from Bellingham, about 80 miles north of Seattle, to the country’s capital.
“Rahmanullah was a man who was extremely proud and capable in the world he came from, who felt defeated in the world he came to,” the case worker told CBS News.
Homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that Lakanwal was “radicalized since he’s been here in this country”. “We do believe it was through connections in his home community and state, and we’re going to continue to talk to those who interacted with him,” she said, providing no further details.
