Beckstrom, a 20-year-old serving with the West Virginia Army National Guard, died last month after being shot along with another Guardsman near the White House.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has ordered the White House to fly flags at half-staff on Thursday in honor of Sarah Beckstrom, the 20-year-old West Virginia Army National Guard specialist who was killed in a daylight attack on the streets of Washington.
It is unclear if other federal buildings will also lower their flags in honor of Beckstrom.
Beckstrom was one of two National Guard members who were shot in the attack near the White House on Nov. 26. She died from her injuries at the hospital on Thanksgiving Day, and the other Guardsman, Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition.
After the shooting, police took 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal into custody.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office said Lakanwal, an Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War, would face one count of first-degree murder and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed.
He pled not guilty in court earlier this week, appearing before a judge remotely from the hospital, where he has been detained since the attack because of injuries sustained during his capture.
Trump called the shooting a “terrorist attack” and criticized the Biden administration for enabling Afghans who worked with U.S. forces during the Afghanistan War to enter the U.S. The president has said he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and expel millions of immigrants from the country.
The director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said in a post on the social platform X that asylum decisions will be paused “until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”
