D.C. National Guard shooting suspect spent “weeks on end” in isolation, struggled with mental health, 2024 emails say
Rahmanullah Lakanwal | Courtesy: MGN
The suspect accused of shooting two West Virginia National Guard members in Washington, D.C., had been struggling with his mental health — often isolating himself in a dark room — in the years after he left Afghanistan and entered the U.S., according to emails sent by a case worker who was helping his family access services after they resettled in Bellingham, Washington.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, entered the U.S. in 2021 as part of the Biden-era Operation Allies Welcome after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, officials said.
The case worker, a volunteer who supported many Afghan families with business and finance-related issues, told CBS News that when they first met in 2022, Lakanwal did not speak good English, so they spoke thorough an interpreter. The worker described him as a very gracious host, chatty and charismatic. However, the case worker said, a severe turn in his personality was noticeable in 2024.
In an email sent on Jan. 11, 2024, to the nonprofit group U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, the concerned case worker said Lakanwal had not worked in a year and his family had been served an eviction notice for nonpayment of rent. Details of the emails were first published by The Associated Press.
“World Relief volunteers are trying to patch things for that family — but I think the father has mental health issues that are not addressed, and he won’t talk to anyone,” the email, sent the year before Lakanwal’s asylum claim was approved, read in part.
World Relief is one of the refugee resettlement agencies that assisted in the relocation of Afghan evacuees. Washington state took in nearly 3,000 Afghan nationals, including Lakanwal, his wife and their five sons.
The family had been living in Bellingham, and Lakanwal drove across the country to Washington, D.C., before the attack, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said during a news conference last week. One of the victims, Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died Thursday, while the other, Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was critically injured and remains hospitalized.
In another email sent Jan. 31, 2024, the case worker said Lakanwal had “not been functional as a person, father and provider since March of last year, 03/2023.”
“He spends most of his time for weeks on end in his darkened bedroom, not speaking to anyone, not even his wife and older kids,” the email said.
The email also describes “manic episodes for one or two weeks at a time where he will take off in the family car,” but also “interim” periods where he “tries to make amends.” The case worker, who is not a mental health professional, later said in the email that they believed Lakanwal is suffering “…PTSD from his work with the US military in Afghanistan.”
According to a former Afghan commando who spoke with CBS News, Lakanwal led a unit of Afghan special forces in the south of the country and worked closely with the international troops before the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The former commando also said 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 U.S.
Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024, which is a lawful immigration process overseen by the Department of Homeland Security. As part of that process, he would have gone through extensive vetting — including background checks, social media reviews, and in-person interviews. He had multiple, in-person asylum meetings at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in 2024, the case worker said.
He passed his reviews and was eventually granted asylum in April 2025.
The case worker told CBS News that neither DHS nor USCIS ever reached out about the emails, and said they don’t believe the government ever saw the emails or considered them in his asylum process.
“Rahmanulla 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 said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that Lakanwal, who is facing murder charges, 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,” Noem said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” She provided no further details.
“This violent act does not reflect the Afghan community, which continues to contribute across the United States and undergoes some of the most extensive vetting of any immigrant population,” said Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, a nonprofit that advocates for the resettlement of Afghans who worked with the U.S. military.
Lakanwal was shot by another National Guard member during his attack and is also hospitalized. He has been sedated and placed on a ventilator since the shooting, multiple U.S. officials told CBS News. The treatment has complicated investigators’ efforts to interview him.
As part of the investigation, U.S. intelligence analysts are combing Lakanwal’s communications and online footprint for signs of international coordination or ideological radicalization, multiple U.S. officials said. An early review of his social media and messaging channels has not revealed links to foreign handlers or extremist groups.
