The Afghan immigrant accused of shooting National Guard members in Washington appears to have become radicalised after he moved to the US, the Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Sunday.
Ms Noem said authorities believe the alleged gunman, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was living in Washington state when he turned to extremism.
“We believe he was radicalised since he's been here in this country,” Ms Noem told NBC News. “We do believe it was through connections in his home community and state, and we're going to continue to talk to those who interacted with him, who were his family members.”
Authorities have identified Mr Lakanwal, 29, as the suspect in Wednesday's shooting near the White House in which one National Guard member was killed and another critically wounded. The US President Donald Trump's administration has blamed a lack of vetting of Afghans and other foreign nationals under the Biden administration for the shooting.
Mr Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 as part of the Biden administration's mass evacuation of Afghans who aided American forces during the two-decade war in Afghanistan as the Taliban took power.
Mr Lakanwal, who was part of a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan, was granted asylum in April by the Trump administration, a government file reviewed by Reuters showed.
Investigators are seeking more information from family members and others, Ms Noem said. She added that immigration officials would consider deporting people with active asylum cases if it was warranted.
