Emails warned suspect unraveled long before DC National Guard shooting

The Afghan man charged with capturing two Nationwide Guard members final week had been mentally deteriorating for years, in line with emails reviewed by The Related Press, which detailed lengthy intervals of isolation, escalating instability and sudden cross-country journey that preceded the assaults from the White Home.

The AP reported that 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal had been elevating considerations for months, with interviews and paperwork exhibiting him quitting work, going into lengthy intervals of silence and taking abrupt street journeys earlier than the capturing.

An e-mail cited by AP warned that “Rahmanullah has stopped functioning as an individual, father and breadwinner since March final yr,” describing how he give up his job, locked himself in a “darkened room” for days and even stopped responding to his spouse and older kids.

The emails confirmed that an lawyer feared he may hurt himself, however mentioned they by no means noticed any indicators that he may grow to be violent towards others.

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Undated file picture of Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the suspect within the capturing of two Nationwide Guard members in Washington, DC, November 26, 2025. (Supplied by the Ministry of Justice)

The emails additionally described how, shortly earlier than the capturing, he alternated between “intervals of darkish isolation and reckless journey,” together with journeys to Chicago, Arizona and ultimately Washington, DC.

The fluctuations reportedly elevated when he dropped out of English courses, drifted out and in of short-term jobs and allowed his kids to reach in school unbathed or in the identical garments for days on finish.

In an e-mail cited by the AP, the lawyer wrote that makes an attempt to appropriate course typically “shortly developed into ‘manic’ episodes lasting one or two weeks at a time, taking off within the household automotive and driving nonstop,” leaving his spouse to repeatedly take care of the fallout.

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Workers from the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants visited Bellingham in March 2024 after receiving the warnings, however the AP reported that the try resulted in no significant contact and left the lawyer satisfied he had rejected the group’s assist.

Authorities say his decline culminated the evening earlier than Thanksgiving, when he allegedly opened hearth close to the White Home, killing West Virginia Nationwide Guard specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Workers Sgt. Andreas Wolfe, 24.

The capturing shocked Washington and raised new questions on how considerations courting again greater than a yr have did not result in intervention.

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The FBI – led by FBI Director Kash Patel – continues to research potential motives, and investigators haven’t confirmed any ideological affect, in line with the AP.

Earlier than arriving within the US in 2021 beneath Operation Allies Welcome, Lakanwal served in a Zero Unit of the Afghan Military, a pressure backed by the CIA.

Advocates who work with Afghan evacuees say some former members of these items have suffered deep trauma from years of battle, although it stays unclear whether or not that historical past performed a task in Lakanwal’s habits within the US.

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The lawyer who sought assist for him, talking on situation of anonymity, advised the AP they had been shocked to be taught he was the suspect and recalled occasions when he performed gently together with his younger sons regardless of his growing issues at dwelling.

They’re now working with investigators as authorities assessment his remaining months and contemplate how the warnings match into the broader failures main as much as the capturing.

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Lakanwal has been charged with first-degree homicide and Wolfe stays hospitalized because the investigation continues.

The Related Press contributed to this report.