'Afghan terror suspect ‘disappeared’ roughly 2 weeks before ambushing troops in DC: neighbor'

 An Afghan suspected terrorist “disappeared” roughly two weeks before he allegedly ambushed and shot two National Guard soldiers in Washington, DC, one of his neighbors revealed.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, lived a quiet life in Bellingham, Washington, but struggled to find work, neighbor Mohammad Sherzard told the Associated Press.

“He was so quiet and the kids were so polite, they were so playful. But we didn’t see anything bad about him. He was looking OK,” Sherzad said.

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Afghan suspected terrorist Rahmanullah Lakanwal “disappeared” roughly two weeks before he allegedly ambushed and shot two National Guard soldiers in Washington, DC, one of his neighbors revealed.REUTERS
He added that Lakanwal “disappeared” about two weeks ago – a handful of days before federal prosecutors said he gunned down 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and left her fellow Guardsman, Andrew Wolfe, 24, critically wounded just blocks from the White House on Wednesday.

CNN also reported that a neighbor said Lakanwal had pulled a recent vanishing act from Bellingham, a scenic city on Bellingham Bay, roughly 90 miles north of Seattle and a stone’s throw from the Canadian border.

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“He was so quiet and the kids were so polite, they were so playful. But we didn’t see anything bad about him. He was looking OK,” Lakanwal’s neighbor Mohammad Sherzad said.Barbara Davidson for NY Post

Lakanwal hadn’t gone to his local mosque in more than two weeks, the neighbor said.

“I didn’t see him, he disappeared,” the neighbor told CNN. “He was not coming … somebody said he’s sick, someone else said he went somewhere.”

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Lakanwal seen ambushing the National Guard troops near the White House in Washington, DC, the day before Thanksgiving.Obtained by the Wall Street Journal

The neighbor – who did not want to be identified – lived in the same apartment complex as Lakanwal, who shacked up with his wife and five children.

They also said that two of Lakanwal’s nephews lived with the family.

It wasn’t clear whether the nephews are related to him or his wife. However, one of Lakanwal’s brothers — who was a platoon leader in the same elite CIA-backed “Zero Unit” as the alleged gunman — also lives in the US.

Sherzad described Lakanwal as polite, quiet and speaking very little English.

He said other members of their shared mosque said Lakanwal had run into trouble finding work.

Lakanwal had worked as a driver for Amazon Flex, delivering packages as an independent contractor, starting in late July, but stopped delivering packages in August, a spokesperson for the megacompany said.

Sherzad didn’t return The Post’s request for further comment.

https://nypost.com/2025/11/28/us-news/afghan-terror-suspect-disappeared-roughly-2-weeks-before-ambushing-national-guard-troops-in-dc-neighbor-says/