(MENAFN- Live Mint) A new video of suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal, involved in the shooting near White House yesterday, has emerged on social media. He is seen brandishing a gun before the ambush that killed one National Guard member and injured another.

Law enforcement officials told AP and other media outlets that the suspected shooter was an Afghan citizen who arrived in the United States in September 2021. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday that she would pursue the death penalty if either of the shooting victims died.

Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for DC, said at a Thursday press conference that the suspect faces three counts of attempted murder while armed, according to Bloomberg.

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US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other administration figures quickly blamed the Biden administration for allowing Lakanwal into the country. They used the case to advocate for stricter immigration measures, including pausing reviews of Afghan immigration cases and re-examining those already in the US, potentially limiting settlement rights for Afghan allies of US forces.

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On Thursday, Trump also slammed the Biden administration's handling of evacuation flights that carried Afghan asylum seekers during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

During his Thanksgiving call to US troops, Trump announced that Sarah Beckstrom, 20, had died, and that Staff Sgt Andrew Wolfe, 24, was“fighting for his life".

“She's just passed away. She's no longer with us. She's looking down at us right now. Her parents are with her," Trump said. The president described Beckstrom as an“incredible person, outstanding in every single way.”

Trump called the shooting a“terrorist attack” and suggested that the shooter became mentally unstable following the war and his departure from Afghanistan.“He went cuckoo. I mean, he went nuts. It happens too often with these people," he said.

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While calling the suspect an“animal”, Trump said that the gunman will "pay a very steep price. He mentioned, "God bless our Great National Guard, and all of our Military and Law Enforcement. These are truly Great People. I, as President of the United States, and everyone associated with the Office of the Presidency, am with you!”

Meanwhile, federal authorities have launched a broad, nationwide terrorism investigation into the incident, conducting searches in both Washington state and California.

(With inputs from agencies)

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