National Guardsman Recovering Following Sustaining Gunshot Wounds in Washington DC
A member of the National Guard is on the mend after he was gravely wounded in an ambush-style shooting last month in Washington DC.
The family of the 24-year-old soldier, 24, report "his head wound is slowly healing and that he's starting to 'look more like himself,'" said West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey.
The soldier's relatives expects the Air Force staff sergeant to be in intensive treatment for the next two to three weeks, and they feel optimistic about his progress, according to the official's statement.
The serviceman was one of two state guardsmen injured by gunfire when a shooter opened fire in proximity to the presidential residence on 26 November. His colleague, twenty-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, succumbed to her wounds.
"Our request remains for all West Virginians and Americans for their thoughts and prayers!" Morrisey declared.
Morrisey attended a candlelight gathering on last Friday night for the injured soldier at Musselman High School in Inwood, West Virginia, where the guardsman was once a pupil.
A pastor at the event shared a message from the soldier's parents, Jason and Melody Wolfe.
"It is clear to us that there is a long road to go," they expressed, according to regional media Metro News.
"But our faith keeps us hopeful. We remain grateful for the well-wishes and the encouragement from people all over the world."
Earlier in the week, the governor said Staff Sgt Wolfe had responded to a nurse with a positive gesture and was able to wiggle his feet.
Law enforcement have formally accused the suspected shooter, an Afghan national named Rahmanullah Lakanwal, with premeditated homicide and assault with intent to kill.
Before coming to the US in 2021, he was once a counterterrorism soldier in a CIA-backed unit that worked with American troops in the South Asian nation.
The injured airman was one of two thousand militia personnel whom the former president dispatched to the nation's capitol in last summer as part of his immigration and crime-related crackdown in Democratic-led cities.
In the aftermath of the shooting, the former president said he wanted an additional five hundred National Guard troops sent to the nation's capital.
The former presidential office has also cited the attack as a justification for additional restrictive policies.
They have halted naturalization proceedings for immigrants from a list of nations that were part of a entry restriction announced over the summer, including Afghanistan.