Trump announces female National Guard troop shot in DC ambush has died
President Donald Trump announced Thursday evening that one of the two West Virginia National Guard troops shot during an ambush near the White House has died.
Sarah Beckstrom, 20, of West Virginia, died with her family by her side, one day after being shot Wednesday by an Afghan national who once worked with the CIA.
Trump hailed Beckstrom as “a highly respected, young, magnificent person.”
“She’s no longer with us. She’s looking down at us right now. Her parents are with her. It’s just happened. She was savagely attacked. She’s dead now,” Trump said as he did a Thanksgiving greeting to military from his Mar-a-Lago home.
Trump also called the shooter who killed Beckstrom and wounded a second Guardsman as a “savage monster.”
A few hours earlier, Beckstrom’s father paid tribute to his daughter, attending her bedside.
“I’m holding her hand right now,” father Gary Beckstrom said Thursday when reached by phone, according to The New York Times. “She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery.”
The other wounded Guardsman, Andrew Wolfe, also remains in critical condition.
They were shot near the White House at about 2:15 p.m. Thursday.
The suspected shooter has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national.
