On this Thanksgiving Day, while most Americans gathered with family, Gary Beckstrom sat at his daughter’s hospital bedside in Washington, D.C., holding her hand and delivering the news no parent should ever have to say.
“She has a mortal wound, it’s not going to be a recovery,” he told The New York Times. “I’m holding her hand right now.”
Twenty-year-old National Guardsman Sarah Beckstrom and 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe were ambushed and shot multiple times Wednesday by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the United States in September 2021 during the Biden administration’s chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal. Lakanwal, who overstayed his visa and should never have been here, used a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver, leaning in to fire additional rounds into the fallen soldiers in what authorities describe as an execution-style attack.
Sarah underwent emergency surgery and remains in critical condition with injuries doctors have now deemed unsurvivable. Andrew Wolfe is also fighting for his life after surgery. A family member at Wolfe’s home asked only for prayers when approached by reporters.
The attack is a direct consequence of the Biden-Harris administration’s disastrous “Operation Allies Welcome,” which airlifted tens of thousands of Afghans with minimal vetting and then lost track of many. Lakanwal was one of them.
As Americans carve turkey and give thanks, two young patriots who volunteered to serve their country lie in hospital beds because the previous administration refused to enforce immigration law and secure the border.
Gary Beckstrom’s words should haunt every politician who waved through that evacuation without proper screening: “She has a mortal wound… I’m holding her hand right now.”
Pray for Sarah, Andrew, and their families. And never forget whose policies put an illegal Afghan terrorist on a Washington, D.C., street with a loaded revolver.
UPDATE:
Sarah Beckstrom, one of the National Guardsmen shot by a crazed gunman, dies https://t.co/JAz5BCFq3k pic.twitter.com/NP1Nm3ZUg8
— New York Post (@nypost) November 27, 2025











