E-Paper
Biden's ‘infamous flights’ flew in Washington shooting suspect from Afghanistan, a ‘hellhole on Earth’: Trump
Two West Virginia National Guard members who were deployed to the nation’s capital were shot on Wednesday afternoon just blocks from the White House.
US President Donald Trump blamed the previous Joe Biden administration for the shooting attack on two West Virginia National Guard members deployed in Washington by a suspect identified to be a man from Afghanistan, which the Republican leader described as a “hellhole on Earth”.
Two West Virginia National Guard members who were deployed to the nation’s capital were shot Wednesday afternoon just blocks from the White House, an act that the Washington mayor described as a targeted attack and US President termed as an “act of terror”. Track latest updates on Washington shooting here
FBI director Kash Patel and Washington mayor Muriel Bowser said they were hospitalised in critical condition.
Speaking at a White House presser over the incident, Donald Trump said based on available information, the suspect is likely a foreigner who entered the country from Afghanistan, “hellhole on Earth”.
“I can report tonight that based on the best available information, the DHS is confident that the suspect in custody is a foreigner, who entered our country from Afghanistan, a hellhole on Earth. He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021, one of those infamous flights that everybody was talking about,” Trump said.
Nobody knew who was coming in, he said, adding his status was extended under legislation signed by Biden.
The 29-year-old suspect, an Afghan national, entered the US in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration programme that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the US troops pulled out from the country, officials cited in an Associated Press (AP) report said.
Trump decried Wednesday's shooting as an “act of terror”.
"This heinous assault was an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror," Trump said, as he vowed to have his administration "reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan" during his predecessor Joe Biden's presidency.
"We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden," he said.
The suspect was also shot but received injuries that were not life-threatening, AP quoted a law enforcement official as saying on condition of anonymity.
