SEATTLE (AP) — People who work with refugees are worried that those who fled dangerous situations to start again in America will face backlash after authorities say an Afghan national shot two National Guard soldiers this week, killing one of them.
Many Afghans living in the U.S. are afraid to leave their houses, fearing they’ll be swept up by immigration officials or attacked with hate speech, said Shawn VanDiver, president of the San Diego-based group #AfghanEvac, a group that helps resettle Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the two-decade war.
“They’re terrified. It’s insane," VanDiver told The Associated Press Thursday. “People are acting xenophobic because of one deranged man. He doesn’t represent all Afghans. He represents himself.”
Officials say Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, drove from his home in Bellingham, Washington, to the nation's capital where he shot two West Virginia National Guard members deployed in Washington, D.C.
President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, had died from her injuries. Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remained hospitalized in critical condition.
Lakanwal had worked in a special CIA-backed Afghan Army unit before emigrating from Afghanistan, according to #AfghanEvac and two sources who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
He applied for asylum during the Biden administration and his asylum was approved this year after undergoing a thorough vetting, the group said.
After the shooting, Trump said his administration would review everyone who entered from the country under former President Joe Biden — a measure his administration had been planning even before the shooting.
Refugee groups fear they'll now be considered guilty by association.
Ambassador Ashraf Haidari, founder and president of Displaced International, which provides resources, advocacy and support to displaced people worldwide, said there must be a thorough investigation and justice for those who were harmed, “but even as we pursue accountability, one individual’s alleged actions cannot be allowed to define, burden, or endanger entire communities who had no part in this tragedy.”
Matthew Soerens, a vice president with World Relief, a Christian humanitarian organization that helps settle refugees, including Afghan nationals in Whatcom County, Washington, said the person responsible for the shooting should face justice under the law.
“Regardless of the alleged perpetrator’s nationality, religion or specific legal status, though," he said, “we urge our country to recognize these evil actions as those of one person, not to unfairly judge others who happen to share those same characteristics.”
National Guard patrol along the National Mall in front of the Capitol, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
The death of a nearly blind refugee from Myanmar who was found on a Buffalo street in February — five days after Border Patrol agents left him at a doughnut shop — has been ruled a homicide, authorities said Wednesday.
The Erie County Medical Examiner's Office didn't reach any conclusions about responsibility for Nurul Amin Shah Alam's death, which the agency said was caused by complications of a perforated duodenal ulcer, precipitated by hypothermia and dehydration. Ruling a death a homicide means it resulted from another person's actions — or inaction — but doesn't necessarily mean that a crime was committed.
“This should not have happened,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, a Democrat, said at a news conference Wednesday, expressing condolences to Shah Alam’s family.
The state attorney general’s office and the Erie County district attorney’s office have been reviewing the case. Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition, called for a criminal investigation into the Border Patrol agents' conduct.
Shah Alam sought safety in the U.S. and "instead, he was left to die in the street,” Awawdeh said by email. “Every single person who was involved must be held responsible.”
Asked about the medical examiner's finding, U.S. Customs and Border Protection pointed to its previous statement that Shah Alam “showed no signs of distress, mobility issues, or disabilities requiring special assistance” when agents dropped him off Feb. 19 at a Tim Hortons restaurant, a spot chosen as “a warm, safe location” near his last known address.
“This death had NOTHING to do Border Patrol,” its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, said in a Feb. 27 social media post that the border agency also cited Wednesday.
The restaurant was closed when Shah Alam was dropped off there, Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan has said.
Shah Alam, 56, was a member of the Rohingya ethnic minority, who are nearly all denied citizenship and other rights in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Shah Alam left Myanmar many years ago for Malaysia, where he worked in construction for many years. He got approval to come to the U.S. as a refugee and arrived in the United States with his wife and two of his children in December 2024, according to advocates for the family.
He spent about a year in the Erie County jail on felony assault and other charges after a 2025 struggle with police who encountered him carrying what appeared to be curtain rods. Police said he bit two officers; advocates for his family said he hadn't understood officers’ commands to drop the items.
He eventually pleaded guilty to two lesser, misdemeanor charges and was released from jail Feb. 19. Border Patrol then briefly detained him until determining that he wasn't eligible for deportation. His family, which had been awaiting his release from jail, wasn't informed of it.
Shah Alam’s lawyer ultimately reported him missing to Buffalo police on Feb. 22.
Two days later, he was found dead near the downtown sports arena where the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres play. It was unclear how he got there from the Tim Hortons, several miles away, or when he died.
FILE - This image from body camera video provided by the Buffalo Police Department shows Nurul Amin Shah Alam, center, led by Buffalo Police officers, Feb. 15, 2025, in Buffalo, N.Y. (Buffalo Police Department via AP, File)
