{"id":59452,"date":"2025-11-26T18:01:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T23:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=59452"},"modified":"2025-11-26T18:01:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T23:01:24","slug":"trump-administration-orders-500-more-national-guard-troops-to-dc-after-shooting-of-two-soldiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/11\/26\/trump-administration-orders-500-more-national-guard-troops-to-dc-after-shooting-of-two-soldiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration orders 500 more National Guard troops to DC after shooting of two soldiers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A suspect who was in custody also was shot and has injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

FBI Director Kash Patel and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said the Guard members were hospitalized in critical condition. Bowser said they were victims of a \u201dtargeted shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey initially said the troops had died, but later walked back the statement to say his office was \u201creceiving conflicting reports\u201d about their condition. The governor\u2019s office did not immediately respond to questions about the attack and the condition of the troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A suspect who was in custody also was shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration quickly ordered 500 more National Guard members to Washington following the shooting. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said President Donald Trump asked him to send the extra soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are currently 2,188 troops assigned to the joint task force operating in the city, according to the government\u2019s latest update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Law enforcement was reviewing surveillance video from the scene and believed the suspect approached the soldiers and pulled out a gun, said another law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least one of the soldiers exchanged gunfire with the shooter, the official said. Investigators were trying to determine the gunman\u2019s motive, including whether the suspect was targeting the troops for any specific reason, the official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shooting happened roughly two blocks northwest of the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social media video shared in the immediate aftermath showed first responders attempting CPR on one of the soldiers and treating the other on a glass-covered sidewalk. Other officers could be seen steps away, restraining an individual on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stacy Walters said she was in a car near the scene when she heard two gunshots and saw people running. Almost instantly, law enforcement swarmed the area. \u201cIt\u2019s such a beautiful day. Who would do this? And we\u2019re getting ready for the holidays?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presence of the National Guard in the nation\u2019s capital has been a flashpoint issue for months, fueling a court fight and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration\u2019s use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 300 West Virginia National Guard members were deployed to Washington in August. Last week, about 160 of them volunteered to extend their deployment until the end of the year while the others returned to West Virginia just over a week ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police tape cordoned off the scene where fire and police vehicle lights flashed and helicopter blades thudded overhead. Agents from the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on scene, as National Guard troops stood sentry nearby. At least one helicopter landed on the National Mall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump, who was in Florida for Thanksgiving, warned in a statement on social media that the \u201canimal\u201d who shot the guardsmen \u201cwill pay a very steep price.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGod bless our Great National Guard, and all of our Military and Law Enforcement. These are truly Great People,\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social. \u201cI, as President of the United States, and everyone associated with the Office of the Presidency, am with you!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Vice President JD Vance urged \u201ceverybody who\u2019s a person of faith\u201d to pray for the two Guardsmen. He cautioned that much remained unknown, including the motive of the shooter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a somber reminder that soldiers, whether they\u2019re active duty, reserve or National Guard, our soldiers are the sword and the shield of the United States of America,\u201d Vance said as he delivered a Thanksgiving message to troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump issued an emergency order in August that federalized the local police force and sent in National Guard troops from eight states and the District of Columbia. The order expired a month later, but the troops remained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, a federal judge ordered an end to the deployment but also put her order on hold for 21 days to allow the Trump administration time to either remove the troops or appeal the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The soldiers have patrolled neighborhoods, train stations and other locations, participated in highway checkpoints and also have been assigned to trash pickup and to guard sports events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A suspect who was in custody also was shot and has injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening. FBI Director Kash Patel and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMTFcL0FQMjUzMzA3MzkxMDkxMDQud2VicD9maXQ9ODYzJTJDNTc1JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiVHJ1bXAgYWRtaW5pc3RyYXRpb24gb3JkZXJzIDUwMCBtb3JlIE5hdGlvbmFsIEd1YXJkIHRyb29wcyB0byBEQyBhZnRlciBzaG9vdGluZyBvZiB0d28gc29sZGllcnMiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.TcAl1kqMoJ7w38E-g_g_c0O3ItkotTZTZqtHV0hvCLcMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":59453,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AP25330739109104.webp","type":"image\/webp"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[12713],"class_list":["post-59452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional-and-world-news","tag-trump-administration-orders-500-more-national-guard-troops-to-dc-after-shooting-of-two-soldiers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59454,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59452\/revisions\/59454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}