National Guard shooting suspect spent weeks isolated, email said

The man accused of shooting two National Guard members in Washington DC last week spent weeks at a time alone in a dark room and suffered from “manic episodes” – according to comments written in 2024 by a social worker who helped the suspect’s family move after fleeing Afghanistan.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal is accused of leading an “ambush” that killed 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and seriously injured 24-year-old Andrew Wolf.

Officials said the 29-year-old entered the United States in 2021 through a program for Afghans who had worked with U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

According to emails from last year obtained by the BBC’s US partner CBS News, Mr Lakanwal had mental health problems.

In an interview with NBC on Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Mr. Lakanwal had been “radicalized since he’s been here in this country” and that officials believed it happened “through connections in his community and his home state.”

Mr. Lakanwal, an Afghan national, entered the United States under the Biden-era Operation Allies Welcome program.

This was during the period following the chaotic withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. As the Taliban regained control of the country, there were fears of reprisals against individuals, like Mr. Lakanwal, who had cooperated with the United States.

He applied for asylum in 2024 and his request was granted earlier this year, an official told CBS.

He lived with his wife and five children in Bellingham, Washington, a state on the other side of the country from where last week’s attack took place.

The motive is not yet known, but a picture of Mr. Lakanwal’s life in the United States began to emerge through emails sent last year to the nonprofit group US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

The social worker who was helping the family access services in the United States sent an email on January 11, 2024, expressing concern that Mr. Lakanwal had not worked in a year and that his family was at risk of deportation.

“World Relief volunteers are trying to repair the damage for this family – but I believe the father has mental health issues that are unresolved and he won’t talk to anyone,” read part of the email obtained by CBS. World Relief is a group that has helped resettle Afghan nationals.

In another email sent on January 31, 2024, the social worker said Mr. Lakanwal “spends most of his time for weeks in his dark room, not speaking to anyone, not even his wife and older children.”

The social worker, who was not a mental health professional, also said Mr Lakanwal had had “manic episodes for a week or two at a time during which he would take off in the family car”. They also said he had periods where he tried to “redeem himself.”

Last week, a childhood friend told The New York Times that Mr. Lakanwal had struggled with mental health after his work in his unit in Afghanistan.

Mr. Lakanwal had been a member of “Unit Zero” – an Afghan intelligence and paramilitary force that worked with the CIA – a former member of the Afghan defense and security forces told CBS.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe also confirmed that Mr Lakanwal was working alongside US intelligence.

In the days following the attack on Washington DC, President Donald Trump pledged to “permanently suspend migration” from all “third world countries”.

The presidential administration has suspended all asylum decisions “until we can ensure that every alien is screened and examined to the fullest extent possible,” said US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow.

On Sunday, Trump told reporters that he expected the situation to last “for a long time.”

Mr. Lakanwal, who was shot during the incident and remains in hospital, faces murder charges.