DC shooting: Sarah Beckstrom's alleged killer could face death penalty

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, arrested for shooting two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., will face murder charges. This was announced by U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, after the death of one of the victims, Sarah Beckstrom, was confirmed.

"She volunteered and she ended up being shot, ambush style, on the cold streets of Washington, D.C.," Pirro said Friday on Fox & Friends. "There are certainly many more charges to come, but we are upgrading the initial charges of assault to murder in the first degree."

These charges would thus be in addition to those Pirro had previously announced at a press conference: three counts of assault with intent to kill while carrying a weapon and another for possession of a firearm during a violent felony.

Pirro added in Friday's interview that he hopes the ongoing investigation will shed light on what happened "in terms of this individual even being in this country, being in a position to ambush and shoot down an innocent woman." Lakanwal is an Afghan immigrant who entered the country as part of the Biden administration's Afghanistan withdrawal.

"It is a premeditated murder. There was an ambush with a gun toward people who didn't know what was coming," she said before promising to report updates on the case as they came in.

Death penalty to be sought federally

The District of Columbia lacks a death penalty. It was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1972 and then repealed by the District Council nine years later, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Residents of the capital voted against it in a referendum in 1992. In September this year, Donald Trump signed an executive order that directed Bondi and Pirro's offices to seek the death penalty for those who commit "the most heinous crimes in our Nation’s capital." To do so, he directed them to appeal to federal jurisdiction since local jurisdiction prohibits the ultimate penalty.

Attorney General Pam Bondi had assured Thursday that the Justice Department would "do everything in our power to seek the death penalty for that monster," if either of the two guards died. "Worst case scenario," she also said, would be to try to get him to serve a life sentence on terrorism charges. Bondi made those statements before Beckstrom's death.

FBI Director Kash Patel has announced a terrorism investigation. Although the motive for the attack is still unknown, different authorities agreed in describing it as an "ambush" and a "terrorist act." Donald Trump himself echoed the latter, describing the attack as "an act of terror."

Andrew Wolfe, 24, the other guard member shot, is in critical condition. His eventual death could further aggravate the charges against Lakanwal. Like Beckstrom, he had been sworn in less than 24 hours before the attack.