National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom dies
In the space of a single day, Sarah Beckstrom went from proud new recruit to a symbol of brutal, senseless loss.
Sworn in less than 24 hours before the shooting,
she and fellow guardsman Andrew Wolfe were walking Washington, D.C. streets they had just pledged to protect.
Prosecutors say 29-year-old Afghan soldier Rahmanullah Lakanwal opened fire, shattering that promise in seconds.
From the White House podium, President Trump struggled to contain his emotion,
calling Sarah “highly respected, young, magnificent” and “savagely attacked.”
His words, “She’s looking down at us right now,” landed like a eulogy for a nation already weary of violence.
As Wolfe remains hospitalized, two families wait in anguish: one grieving a daughter who never got to serve,
another praying their son survives a uniform he had only just earned.
The questions of how and why will linger far longer than the gunfir
