‘I’m Holding Her Hand Right Now’: Father Of Female National Guard Member Says She Won’t Survive

The father of Sarah Beckstrom, one of the two National Guard members allegedly shot by Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, said that she has a “mortal wound” and is not expected to survive.

“I’m holding her hand right now,” Gary Beckstrom said. “She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery.”

????Sad news: The father of 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom from the WV National Guard says her death is all but certain. "She has a mortal wound. It's not going to be a recovery." pic.twitter.com/IJMIOYQ6th

— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) November 27, 2025

Beckstrom, 20, an Army Specialist, had volunteered to work the Thanksgiving holiday so that her fellow soldiers could go home to their families, Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News Thursday.

“She volunteered to be there on Thanksgiving, working today,” Bondi said. “She volunteered, as did many of those guardsmen and women, so other people could be home with their families. Yet, now, their families are in hospital rooms with them while they are fighting for their lives.”

 “The accused gunman had been part of an Afghan ‘partner force’ trained and supported by the C.I.A. in the southern province of Kandahar, officials said. An Afghan intelligence official said the suspect had served in one of what were known as Zero Units, Afghan paramilitary forces trained to target the Taliban and that were accused of widespread killings of civilians,” The New York Times reported.

On Thursday, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro made it clear that if either Beckstrom or Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, the other Guard member who was shot, did not survive, the federal government would seek charges of murder in the first degree against the suspect, making him eligible for the death penalty.

Speaking at a press conference Thursday morning, Pirro stated,

“As we stand here today, the charges that are appropriate right now are three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, a violation of DC code 22–401 and DC code 22–4502. He will also be charged  possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. He faces 15 years under assault with the intent to kill. We intend to continue monitoring what the charges will be, depending upon the well-being of the guardsmen. We are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree.”

“But make no mistake,” she declared. “If they do not, that will certainly be the charge: murder in the first degree. The Department of Justice under Attorney General Pam Bondi is committed to a thorough and impartial investigation where we will hold this perpetrator accountable under the full weight of the law.”