National Guardsman Healing Following Being Shot in Washington DC
A servicemember of the Air National Guard is showing improvement after he was critically injured in an targeted attack last month in the US capital.
The parents of the 24-year-old soldier, 24, report "the injury to his head is gradually improving and that he's beginning to 'look more like himself,'" stated the state's chief executive the governor.
The soldier's relatives expects the military non-commissioned officer to be in intensive treatment for the next two to three weeks, and they feel hopeful about his recovery, according to the official's statement.
The serviceman was one of two state guardsmen injured by gunfire when a gunman began shooting not far from the White House on November 26th. His colleague, twenty-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, died from her injuries.
"We continue to ask all West Virginians and Americans for their thoughts and prayers!" the governor said.
The governor was present at a candlelight gathering on Friday evening for Staff Sgt Wolfe at a local secondary school in Inwood, West Virginia, where the serviceman was once a pupil.
A clergyman at the vigil read a statement from the guardsman's mother and father, Jason and Melody Wolfe.
"It is clear to us that there is a long road to go," they wrote, according to local news outlet outlets.
"But our belief keeps us optimistic. We remain thankful for the prayers and the support from people all over the world."
Previously, the governor said Staff Sgt Wolfe had acknowledged medical staff with a positive gesture and was able to move his toes.
Police have charged the suspected shooter, an Afghan national named Rahmanullah Lakanwal, with premeditated homicide and assault with intent to kill.
Prior to his arrival to the US in 2021, he was once a counterterrorism soldier in a paramilitary group that operated alongside American troops in the South Asian nation.
The injured airman was one of two thousand militia personnel whom President Donald Trump dispatched to the Washington DC in last summer as part of his immigration and crime-related crackdown in urban centers.
In the aftermath of the incident, Trump said he desired an additional five hundred National Guard troops sent to the nation's capital.
The former presidential office has also cited the shooting as a reason for further immigration crackdown measures.
They have cancelled all citizenship ceremonies for immigrants from 19 countries that were part of a travel ban announced over the recent season, among them the suspect's home country.
