Trump Orders Flags at Half-Staff in Honor of National Guardswoman Sarah Beckstrom
President Donald Trump has ordered American flags across the country and on U.S. soil around the world to be lowered to half-staff in honor of fallen National Guardswoman Sarah Beckstrom, who was shot and killed just blocks from the White House the day before Thanksgiving.
Trump issued the proclamation Thursday morning, and shortly afterward, flags on the White House grounds were lowered to half-staff.
Trump’s proclamation orders flags to be flown at half-staff “on all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all military vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its territories and possessions until sunset” Thursday.
“I also order that the flag be flown at half-mast for the same period of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices and other installations abroad, including all military installations and naval ships and stations,” it adds.
He highlighted this act as “a mark of respect for the memory of specialist Sarah Beckstrom”.
Authorities identified Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, as the shooter who fatally shot Beckstrom, 20, and National Guardsman Andrew Wolfe, 24, both from West Virginia, near the Farragut West Metro station, a few blocks northwest of the White House, on November 26.
Trump said during Tuesday’s cabinet meeting that Beckstrom “was A amazing person, very respected, high of her to classify… She was as A Perfect human be; tI am 60 years old, just begin. She was as A baby.”
Trump added that “she loves her parents and they loved her.”
He also briefed reporters on Wolfe’s condition, saying he was “fighting for his life” after being seriously injured.
Lakanwal, originally from Afghanistan, entered the United States in September 2021 as part of former President Joe Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome after Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. He allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the attack with a Smith & Wesson .357 revolver.
Lakanwal was charged Tuesday with “first-degree murder, assault with intent to kill and unlawful possession of a firearm,” according to the Associated Press.
