Category: Sarah beckstrom
‘His recovery is miraculous’: Mother of National Guard member shot in DC attack gives hopeful update on his condition
The mother of Andrew Wolfe said that he is making a “miraculous” recovery weeks after getting shot in the head in an alleged terror attack in Washington, D.C.
Wolfe and Sarah Beckstrom were patrolling D.C. as West Virginia National Guard members on Nov. 26 when an armed man attacked them. Beckstrom died from her injuries, and Wolfe was grievously injured.
‘Everyone has said his recovery is miraculous and we all know why God is so good!’
Wolfe was airlifted to MedStar Washington Hospital Center for treatment. On Saturday, MedStar neurosurgeon Dr. Jeffrey Mai released a statement about Wolfe’s progress.
“He is now breathing on his own and can stand with assistance — important milestones that reflect his strength and determination,” Mai said. “Based on these improvements, he is now ready to transition from acute care to inpatient rehabilitation as the next step in his recovery journey.”
His mother, Melody Wolfe, also released an update on his recovery progress.
“Andy is continuing to make HUGE improvements. He was sitting in a chair today for a few hours and was moving more of his right side. I asked if I could kiss him on his cheek, and he pulled me in close and let me give him a kiss, and then held me close with his arm around my neck,” the statement reads.
“It was the most precious gift he could give me,” she added.
“Then this evening he decided he was going to set the bar higher, and he started to smile and chuckle a little when his friends … were there talking with him! They were sharing pictures of Andy and his silliness, and he smiled and would even shake his head a little. So many people were able to witness this tonight!”
She went on to say that his communication abilities have greatly increased, although he is not able to communicate verbally yet.
“Everyone has said his recovery is miraculous, and we all know why God is so good!” she added. “He has worked through the hands of the knowledgeable and caring staff at the hospital, he has given our son the strength needed to heal, and he’s made sure Andy has been surrounded by so much positivity and love!”
RELATED: MS NOW reporter gets obliterated for unbelievable comment about National Guard attack
Wolfe’s family thanked everyone for their prayers on his behalf.
“We know he will continue to improve at a rapid pace and know your prayers are making the difference,” the family said. “Please continue as God heals Andrew and gives him the strength to return to work, the West Virginia National Guard, and his new mission of being a light into this world. The support we’ve received from Andy’s military family, his hometown community, and people across the nation has been extraordinary.”
The suspect in the attack was arrested and identified as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghani who had fought in missions for the CIA and fled to the U.S. after the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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White House makes touching gesture to honor assassinated National Guard member, allegedly by CIA-linked Afghan
President Donald Trump’s administration is honoring fallen National Guard member Spc. Sarah Beckstrom in the wake of her horrific murder just yards away from the White House grounds.
The White House lowered all flags on the grounds to half-staff on Thursday after Beckstrom succumbed to her wounds on November 27, Thanksgiving Day. The suspect is a CIA-linked Afghan national who allegedly shot her and fellow guardsman Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe in Washington, D.C, the day prior.
Beckstrom was only 20 years old.
‘The Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States.’
The proclamation from Trump’s administration extended the honor to “all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, December 4, 2025.”
The flags will also be lowered at American embassies, legations, consular offices, and military facilities across the world.
Flags at the White House are lowered to half-staff in memory of Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom.
May God bless her family, our National Guard heroes, and the United States of America. 🙏🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/OyOGMc0dv3
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 4, 2025
Twenty-nine-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who was officially charged with Beckstrom’s murder, also allegedly ambushed 24-year-old Wolfe, who is miraculously expected to recover.
Lakanwal first came to the United States under President Joe Biden’s administration under the program Operation Allies Welcome following the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Lakanwal was also a member of a CIA-backed military operation to hunt down Taliban commanders.
RELATED: Suspect in National Guard shooting was part of CIA-backed unit that hunted down Taliban commanders
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
“In the wake of the disastrous Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
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‘Shut the f**k up’: White House hammers New Yorker writer for trivializing National Guard members’ sacrifice
Two West Virginia National Guardsmen patrolling the national capital were shot the day before Thanksgiving, allegedly by a 29-year-old Afghan national who Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem indicated “was one of the many unvetted, mass paroled into the United States under Operation Allies Welcome on September 8, 2021, under the Biden Administration.”
While 24-year-old U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe is reportedly still fighting for his life, Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom succumbed to her wounds on Thursday evening.
“My baby girl has passed to glory,” the fallen guardsman’s father, Gary Beckstrom, noted in a Facebook post on Thursday. “… This has been a horrible tragedy.”
‘Apologize and repent.’
Amid the general outpouring of prayers and support for the victims and their families, the New Yorker magazine’s chief Washington correspondent, Jane Mayer, decided to publicly trivialize the military members’ sacrifice.
“This is so tragic, so unnecessary, these poor guardsmen should never have been deployed,” wrote Mayer. “I live in DC and watched as they had virtually nothing to do but pick up trash. It was a political show and at what a cost.”
Mayer’s apparent suggestion that the National Guardsman who died and others overseeing a historic and transformative decrease in violent crime in Washington, D.C., were glorified garbage pickers did not go over well with the American people and their White House.
White House communications director Steven Cheung, responding on X from his official account, wrote, “Jane, respectfully, shut the f**k up for trying to politicize this tragedy.
“They were protecting DC and trying to make the nation’s capital safer,” continued Cheung. “People like you who engage in ghoulish behavior lose all credibility. Not like you had any to begin with.”
Military members and civilians pray outside the hospital where the two wounded National Guardsmen were taken. Photo by Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images.
The official White House rapid response account similarly castigated the liberal journalist, writing, “You sick, disgusting ghoul. Two of these heroes were just SHOT IN BROAD DAYLIGHT. The Guard has saved countless lives — backed up by evidence (which you’re clearly too stupid to notice). They are American patriots.”
In August, President Donald Trump federalized the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., and deployed the National Guard there in order to “re-establish law, order, and public safety” to a city that had a higher violent crime, murder, and robbery rate than all 50 states.
D.C. immediately witnessed a dramatic drop in crime.
There was a 44% decrease in violent crime in the first three weeks of the anti-crime initiative when compared to the same stretch the previous year and a 27% drop in crime from Aug. 11 through Oct. 15 relative to the same period in 2024. In addition to saving lives, the reduction in crime led to savings of over $450 million as of Nov. 4, according to the America First Policy Institute.
The White House was not alone in its disgust over Mayer’s remarks.
Georgia Rep. Mike Collins (R) responded, “Apologize and repent.”
“Stop supporting the murder of American soldiers,” wrote BlazeTV host Auron MacIntyre.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) wrote, “All these sick people on the Left do is blame the victims. I’m thankful for our guardsmen and praying for them and their families as they keep protecting the peace.”
While others similarly bashed Mayer over her rush to politicize the attack on the guardsmen by a suspect apparently imported by the Biden administration, some critics refuted the New Yorker writer’s narrative by providing accounts of critical actions taken by the National Guard in the District of Columbia.
For instance, Wallace White, a reporter at the Daily Caller News Foundation, noted, “On my walk back from work a few weeks back, a man was dangling off the ledge of the metro tracks at Farragut West clearly trying to commit suicide by train. If two national guardsmen weren’t there at the time, he’d be dead. These people are heroes.”
Logan Dobson, vice president of the political advertising agency Targeted Victory, noted that he lives in D.C. and that the city is safer thanks to the National Guard, adding on the basis of murder statistics, “Dozens of Washingtonians are alive today that wouldn’t be if not for the Guard.”
When confronted by Dobson with evidence of the drop in crime following the National Guard’s deployment to D.C., Mayer said, “I’ve covered crime in Washington since 1981- let’s skip the mansplaining. You can play with the stats but homicides were dropping before the troops got here.”
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