The 20-year-old National Guard member shot in D.C. on Wednesday is not expected to recover from her “mortal wound.”
Gary Beckstrom, the father of Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, told The New York Times on Thursday that his daughter “has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery,” he said via phone.
“I’m holding her hand right now,” he added before disconnecting the call.
President Donald Trump announced later Thursday evening that Beckstrom has died, praising her as “outstanding in every way.”
A gunman opened fire on Beckstrom and Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24—both of whom are members of the West Virginia National Guard—just blocks from the White House on Wednesday.
Wolfe remains in critical condition.
The Times spoke to a man who answered the phone at Wolfe’s home, who asked for “prayers for my son,” but would not speak further, the outlet reported.
Beckstrom hails from Summersville—a town of fewer than 4,000 residents—and joined the service in 2023, according to a statement from the West Virginia National Guard.
Wolfe, an Air Force staff sergeant from Martinsburg, W.Va., entered the service in 2019 and was assigned to the Force Support Squadron, 167th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard, the outlet reported.
Both were deployed to D.C. in mid-August, when Trump declared a crime emergency and vowed to make the nation’s capital safe.
The suspected shooter, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, will face first-degree murder charges if either service member does not survive, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said during a Thursday morning press conference.
Lakanwal, an Afghan man living in Washington, allegedly fled to the U.S. during the Taliban takeover of his homeland in 2021. CNN reported that he had “applied for asylum in 2024, and it was granted by the Trump administration in April 2025.”
Local officials said the suspect came around the corner, raised a firearm, and allegedly opened fire on the two service members in what appeared to be a targeted attack. Other members of the National Guard subdued him, and he is also hospitalized.
The White House was placed on lockdown on Wednesday afternoon after the shooting near the president’s residence.
On Wednesday, Trump said the “animal” who shot the two National Guard members will “pay a very steep price.”
“The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded, and now in two separate hospitals, is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He continued: “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!”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
