When Rahmanullah Lakanwal first arrived in the United States from Afghanistan, those who met him remembered someone lively and hopeful. Over the next few years, however, volunteers who worked with his family say he retreated into isolation, began taking unexplained long drives across the country and exhibited behavior that alarmed those trying to help him.
Lakanwal, an Afghan national, is accused of shooting two members of the National Guard on Nov. 26. One of the victims, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, later died of her wounds; the other, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, was reported in serious condition.
A volunteer who assisted Afghan refugees and who worked closely with Lakanwal’s family described the man’s decline to NPR, speaking on condition of anonymity out of concern for personal safety and fear of reprisals against the volunteer community. The volunteer said that when they met Lakanwal in 2022 in Bellingham, Wash., he initially appeared outgoing—socializing with other Afghan men and spending time outdoors with his children. He held a string of short-lived jobs, hosted gatherings and was publicly engaged with his community.
By 2023, the volunteer said, Lakanwal had become withdrawn and defeated by the difficulties of securing steady employment and adjusting to life in the U.S. Emails shared by the volunteer from January 2024 described troubling signs: he reportedly spent most of his time in a darkened bedroom, barely spoke to family members, and seemed severely depressed. The volunteer, who is not a health professional, suggested Lakanwal may have been suffering from PTSD and from the strain of his prior work with U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
Those who helped him also noticed erratic behavior. Beginning in 2023, Lakanwal was said to have disappeared for stretches of weeks at a time, traveling in the family car to states as distant as Arizona and Illinois. He would sometimes send map pins to a volunteer sponsor but otherwise had little communication with family members about his whereabouts, according to the volunteer.
The volunteer sought professional assistance for Lakanwal, reaching out to refugee-support organizations in Washington state, including World Relief and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. They say responses were limited. World Relief declined to confirm whether it had a role in his resettlement, noting it cannot disclose client information without permission from government partners; the organization said it is assisting law enforcement in the ongoing investigation. USCRI did not respond to requests for comment.
Before coming to the U.S. in 2021, Lakanwal reportedly served in an Afghan counterterrorism unit. AfghanEvac, a nonprofit run by U.S. veterans and others who served in Afghanistan, told NPR his unit fought the Taliban with U.S. intelligence and military support and said the unit was run with CIA involvement. CIA Director John Ratcliffe later said the suspect had been admitted to the United States because of his prior work with the U.S. government, including the CIA.
Despite these reports about his past, the volunteer said they never observed hostility toward the United States or clear signs of radicalization during the time they knew him. Instead, they described a man in a deepening personal crisis—hampered by limited English, cultural isolation and a lack of sustained, organized support after initial resettlement. “Families were, in my mind, abandoned into the community,” the volunteer said, adding that they feared Lakanwal might harm himself because of how withdrawn he had become.
Federal officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, have said investigators believe Lakanwal was radicalized while in the United States through connections in his home community and state. Volunteers who knew him dispute that characterization, saying his behavior looked like the breakdown of a person struggling with trauma, language barriers and unemployment rather than evidence of organized extremism.
The shooting prompted immediate policy responses. The Trump administration moved to pause refugee cases for Afghan nationals and initiated a broader review of refugees and migrants from more than a dozen countries living in the United States legally.
Activists and advocates working with Afghan evacuees emphasize that advocates consider this alleged attack an isolated incident and warn against stigmatizing the whole community. Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran who leads AfghanEvac, said the vast majority of Afghans resettled in the U.S. are law-abiding and that the incident should not be used to cast blame on an entire population.
Investigations into the shooting and into Lakanwal’s background and mental state remain ongoing, and community volunteers say the case highlights gaps in long-term support for refugees who may need mental health care, employment assistance and social integration beyond the initial resettlement period.