Washington, DC – A man who allegedly attacked two National Guard members in the United States capital has been charged with murder after one of his victims died from her wounds.The updated charges were announced on Friday by Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for Washington, DC.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThey came two days after Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, shot West Virginia National Guard members Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, just blocks from the White House.Late Thursday, US President Donald Trump announced that Beckstrom, who had been deployed to the capital as part of what the president has framed as an anti-crime drive, had died of her wounds.Pirro made the announcement on the Fox and Friends TV programme, a day after she said that Washington state resident Lakanwal would face three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.Lakanwal “will now be charged with murder in the first degree”, she said on Friday.“There are certainly many more charges to come, but we are upgrading the initial charges from assault to murder in the first degree.”Attorney General Pam Bondi had previously said she would seek the death penalty if either of the soldiers died from the attack. The FBI has said it is investigating the attack as “terrorism”.On Friday, National Guard member Wolfe remained in critical condition.‘Collective punishment’The upgraded charges come shortly after the Trump administration promised a widespread crackdown on immigration in the wake of the …
