A Volunteer’s dire warnings about the National Guard D.C. shooting suspect

Friday, December 5, 2025 -Volunteers and community advocates had raised serious concerns about Rahmanullah Lakanwal long before he became the accused in the deadly shooting of two members of the United States National Guard in Washington, D.C. 

According to investigators, one volunteer described him as “not functional as a person, father, and provider” — noting that he shut himself in a dark room for days, stopped responding even to his family, and ultimately dropped out of work and English classes.

That volunteer’s greatest fear was that Lakanwal might harm himself. “My biggest concern was that he would harm himself,” they said, describing how he had become increasingly withdrawn. They did not warn at the time that he might attack others — a tragic prediction no one saw coming.

Now, with the deadly attack outside the White House that killed a young guard member and critically wounded another, those earlier warnings look haunting. 

Experts and community advocates say this case underscores how isolation, untreated mental‑health deterioration, and lack of timely intervention can spiral into violence — a stark, urgent call to rethink how vulnerable individuals and new arrivals are supported before tragedy strikes.