<\/p>\n
The West Virginia<\/a> national guard soldier who was wounded in the 26 November shooting that killed<\/a> a colleague of his in Washington DC<\/a> is \u201cslowly healing\u201d, according to West Virginia\u2019s governor.<\/p>\n Andrew Wolfe, 24, was shot alongside fellow West Virginia national guard soldier Sarah Beckstrom, 20, while they patrolled the US capital as part of the Trump administration<\/a>\u2019s push to deploy military members on to the city\u2019s streets. Beckstrom died of her injuries the day after she was shot while Wolfe was hospitalized in critical condition.<\/p>\n On Friday, West Virginia\u2019s governor, Patrick Morrisey \u2013 who deployed the state\u2019s national guard to Washington DC \u2013 said in a post on his website that Wolfe had been recovering, if slowly, from being shot in the head.<\/p>\n \u201cHis parents report that his head wound is slowly healing and that he\u2019s beginning to \u2018look more like himself\u2019,\u201d the governor\u2019s statement<\/a> said of Wolfe. \u201cOverall, the family expects that Andy will be in acute care for another 2-3 weeks but have been optimistic about his progress.\u201d<\/p>\n Wolfe joined the West Virginia national guard in 2019 and has earned multiple commendations since. He was deployed to Washington DC<\/a> in August after the Trump administration announced what it billed as a \u201ccrime emergency\u201d there, though the city had just reported a 30-year low in violent crime.<\/p>\n The suspect in the deadly double shooting, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was formally charged<\/a> on Tuesday for a number of crimes, including first-degree murder. Lakanwal is from Afghanistan and had entered the US in 2021 after the US military\u2019s withdrawal from the country as the Taliban took power there again.<\/p>\n Lakanwal worked with the CIA, within an Afghan counter-terrorism group called the \u201cZero Unit\u201d. The unit was involved in secretive and dangerous missions to capture or assassinate suspected terrorists. Afghan strike forces, like so-called Zero Units, have been accused of human rights abuses<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the days after the shooting attributed to Lakanwal, the Trump administration announced a number of restrictive immigration policies. The White House at first announced it would be halting all asylum decisions and processes for Afghan nationals, blaming the preceding Biden administration for allowing Lakanwal into the country.<\/p>\n Lakanwal was granted asylum in April, during Donald Trump\u2019s second presidency.<\/p>\n Then the administration announced it would be pausing immigration applications for people from 19 separate countries, including Afghanistan. The 19 countries were included in a Trump proclamation<\/a> this June.<\/p>\n