Guard Member Killed in DC Joined Right After High School

In the wake of National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom's death, the Washington Post pieces together what is known about the 20-year-old. "Two years ago, [her] life was just getting started," the paper writes, noting that she only graduated high school in June 2023 and joined the Army National Guard that very same month. Beckstrom, 20, was one of two Guard members shot while on patrol near 17th and I streets on Wednesday. The other, Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition.

Beckstrom, a West Virginia native who graduated with honors and played softball at Webster County High School, had been serving with the 863rd Military Police Company. She had been in DC since August as part of President Trump's decision to deploy the Guard to help address crime in the city. While the paper was unable to speak with her relatives, it has this:

• "Public social media posts they have made over the past decade suggest that theirs is a tight-knit family. Even at 20, Beckstrom called her father 'Dadda.' She, her parents, a younger sister and an older brother often boasted about how proud of each other they were, and they regularly posted 'I love you' for all the world to see."

The New York Times managed to reach her father in advance of her death. "I'm holding her hand right now," Gary Beckstrom said Thursday. "She has a mortal wound. It's not going to be a recovery."

As for Wolfe, the Post has this update posted by his mother to a neighborhood Facebook group: "Andy's been out of surgery for a few hours. His brain is being allowed space to swell and this first 24 to 48 hours is the biggest right now. They have no clue about any lasting effects right now because we're in this very first stage. The first two weeks will be a waiting game. Right now he's surviving and alive. We got to see him in ICU and he's sedated. It feels like a nightmare and this doesn't feel real."

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, has been arrested in connection with the shooting. The AP reports Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, on Friday said the charges against him have been upgraded to first-degree murder.