West Virginia National Guard member who survived DC shooting is slowly healing, governor says

INWOOD, W.Va. (AP) — The West Virginia National Guard member who survived last week’s shooting in Washington is slowly healing, West Virginia’s governor said Friday.

Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe’s head wound is slowly improving and “he’s beginning to ‘look more like himself,’” Gov. Patrick Morrisey said in a statement quoting Wolfe’s parents.

Wolfe and Spc. Sarah Beckstrom were ambushed as they patrolled a subway station three blocks from the White House on Nov. 26. Beckstrom died from her injuries the next day.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who was also shot during the confrontation, has been charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

Wolfe’s family expects he will be in acute care for another two or three weeks, the governor said. He asked that West Virginians and Americans continue to pray for Wolfe.

A vigil was scheduled to be held for him at his alma mater, Musselman High School, in Berkeley County on Friday night.

Wolfe, 24, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, about 75 miles northwest of Washington, D.C., was assigned to the Force Support Squadron, 167th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard.

He has worked as a lineman with Frontier Communications since early 2023, the company said.

Wolfe joined the National Guard in 2019, the year he graduated from high school. At Musselman, Wolfe was an engaged and high-achieving student “who embodied the Applemen spirit, contributing positively to our school community both academically and athletically,” Principal Alicia Riggleman said.

Wolfe and Beckstrom were among more than 2,000 troops deployed to the nation’s capital as part of President Donald Trump’s crime-fighting mission that involved taking over the local police department.