National Guard shooting in DC leaves West Virginia reeling as top official slams Afghanistan withdrawal
EXCLUSIVE: The Thanksgiving Eve shooting that has left one West Virginia National Guard member dead and another clinging to his life enraged top officials in Charleston, West Virginia — as...
By Fox News · Fox News
EXCLUSIVE: The Thanksgiving Eve shooting that has left one West Virginia National Guard member dead and another clinging to his life enraged top officials in Charleston, West Virginia — as one placed blame squarely on the disastrous 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and said his state is "one big small town" that is mourning together. The suspect, Rahmahullah Lakanwal, reportedly worked with a CIA-operated unit that fought the Taliban on America’s behalf, Fox News Digital confirmed, which helped evacuate people during the fall of Kabul under then-President Joe Biden. West Virginia Republican Party Chairman Josh Holstein told Fox News Digital Friday the news angered him, and that anger turned to devastation when Sarah Beckstrom of Summersville, West Virginia, succumbed to her wounds, and as Andrew Wolfe of Inwood, West Virginia, remains in critical condition. ALLEGED DC SHOOTER ENTERED US UNDER AFGHAN RESETTLEMENT PUSH MAYORKAS VOWED WOULD BE DONE ‘SWIFTLY AND SAFELY' "It’s just been a horrible tragedy here in West Virginia," said Holstein, who is also a state delegate from Boone County, West Virginia. "This doesn't happen for West Virginians very often, and it's just such a deep tragedy." "One of the things that I've … said from the beginning is West Virginia is just one big small town," he said. "And folks come together in tragedy, in triumph, in everything. We come together and we celebrate, we mourn, always together." Holstein said that in times like this political parties don’t matter, and that Mountaineers came again together after the shooting. West Virginia Democratic Party Chair Mike Pushkin to Republican Sens. Jim Justice and Shelley Moore Capito all offered similar heartfelt reactions. ‘IT’S REALLY AN INVASION’: PROTESTERS SLAM TRUMP’S DC POLICE TAKEOVER AS CRIME TUMBLES "West Virginians of all political sides of the aisle came together and just mourn(ed) and share a sense of deep grief, but not only grief, but gratitude for these folks, especially t…