National Guard member killed in D.C. shooting remembered for 'heart of gold'

Sarah Beckstrom, the West Virginia National Guard member who died of her injuries after a shooting near the White House this week, took a keen interest in criminal justice and dreamed of one day becoming an FBI agent, according to a former boyfriend.

Beckstrom, 20, believed her service with the military police would “get her foot in the door for a career in the FBI and help her in the long run,” according to the ex-boyfriend, Adam Carr, who said the two remained on good terms after breaking up last month following six years together.

President Donald Trump announced Beckstrom’s death during a Thanksgiving Day phone call with U.S. troops. He described her as a “highly respected, young, magnificent person” and added: “She’s looking down at us right now.”

The other National Guard member wounded in Wednesday’s shooting has been identified as U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. Trump said Wolfe was in “very bad shape” and “fighting for his life.”

The suspected gunman, an Afghan national identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, faces a first-degree murder charge, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced Friday. Officials previously said he faced three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and one count of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.

Lakanwal worked with U.S. forces during the war in Afghanistan, according to the CIA.

Carr, 20, who started dating Beckstrom in high school, remembered her as “one of the most forgiving people” he had ever met. “She doesn’t even have to know you and she’ll do anything for you,” Carr said in an interview with NBC News on Friday.

Beckstrom loved exploring the outdoors, Carr said. In photos shared with NBC News, Beckstrom can be seen hunting deer, roasting marshmallows over a backyard fire and posing happily with Carr’s brother’s dog, a Dutch shepherd named Major.

Beckstrom enlisted in the West Virginia National Guard on June 26, 2023. She was assigned to 863rd Military Police Company and deployed to D.C. in August, when Trump ordered troops to the capital as part of a federal operation known as the “D.C. Safe and Beautiful Mission.”

Carr said Beckstrom initially did not want to go to the capital because she was concerned about feeling lonely away from home. “She hated it. She cried about it,” he said. But with time, she came to enjoy the deployment and bonded with other troops. Her military colleagues nicknamed her “Becky,” he said.

In her spare time, he said, she visited monuments and museums, taking pictures and soaking up D.C.’s history. She was especially interested in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, he said.