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24-year-old Air National Guard Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolf is “fighting for his life,” according to President Donald Trump, just days after he was seriously wounded during a shocking shooting in Washington, D.C., where he was deployed with the West Virginia National Guard.
“We have one young man who’s fighting for his life, he’s fighting very hard,” the president said during a Tuesday cabinet meeting at the White House.
“I spoke to his mother,” President Trump said, and he shared with the cabinet members that Wolfe’s mother told him that she believed her son would survive.
“If he lives, it would be amazing,” he added. “A miracle, actually.”
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey (R) on Monday also announced that Wolfe remained in “serious condition,” but there were some positive developments: he gave a nurse a thumbs up when asked if he could hear, and he was able to wiggle his toes.
President Trump on Tuesday also paid homage to a second victim of the shooting – a young Army specialist from West Virginia, as well.
“Sarah is gone, she passed away, she’s looking down on us now,” the president said, paying his respects to Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom.
He said her parents were “devastated” over their daughter’s young death.
The suspect in the shooting was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as an Afghan national, according to a statement from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
The suspect was “one of the many unvetted, mass paroled” nationals into the U.S. during the Biden administration under Operation Allies Welcome. Noem said the suspect entered the country on September 8, 2021.
“I will not utter this depraved individual’s name,” she said last week. “He should be starved of the glory he so desperately wants. These men and women of the National Guard are mothers, fathers, sisters, daughters, children of God, carrying out the same basic public safety and immigration laws enshrined in law for decades.”
According to CBS, the suspect was identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 24, an individual who previously worked with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in Kandahar before the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal.
Following the shooting, the DHS announced an immediate stop to all immigration requests relating to Afghanistan nationals, pending “further review of security and vetting protocols.”