The man charged with shooting two National Guard troops in D.C. last fall, killing one of them, is being force-fed against his will as officials take drastic measures to ensure he faces trial.
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Rahmanullah Lakanwal was admitted to a hospital in July after he began refusing food and water. His condition appears to have deteriorated in recent days, though specific medical details were not publicly available in court records.
U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta issued a written order Saturday authorizing “nonconsensual nutrition and medical treatment,” including through the use of intubation or intravenous drip, to prevent Lakanwal’s death or a serious decline in his health.
The order will remain in effect “until adequate oral intake of food and liquid and adequate acceptance of medical treatment is achieved and defendant’s life is no longer threatened,” Mehta wrote. U.S. officials may apply to extend it after Oct. 28, the judge added.
A spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said her office was unable to comment. Pirro, the top federal prosecutor in D.C., has said the Justice Department is weighing whether to seek the death penalty for Lakanwal if he is convicted.
Public defenders for Lakanwal did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Because Lakanwal is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service during pretrial proceedings, the Justice Department is in the unusual position of advocating for his emergency medical treatment at the same time it considers whether to seek the death penalty.
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The Marshals Service “cannot allow an individual to starve him or herself in its custody,” federal prosecutors said in a July court filing.
Lakanwal, an Afghan national, is charged in a 17-count indictment with fatally shooting Spec. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and with attempting to kill Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, then 24, in an ambush-style attack several blocks from the White House in November. Wolfe survived the shooting and has been in recovery.
Beckstrom and Wolfe, both members of the West Virginia National Guard, were among more than 2,000 Guard members deployed to D.C. after President Donald Trump’s announcement of a “crime emergency” in the city last August.
Lakanwal previously worked with the U.S. government as a partner in Afghanistan, serving in the CIA’s “Zero Units” that seized or killed suspected terrorists, before he was resettled with his wife and five children in Bellingham, Washington.
“As I understand it, Mr. Lakanwal’s health has deteriorated quite substantially and he is in dire circumstances,” Mehta said at a hearing in July, adding that his condition was “in some sense self-inflicted” because he had been “refusing food and, in some cases, water.”
