WASHINGTON — Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old West Virginia National Guard member wounded in a shooting near the White House on Wednesday, has died, President Donald Trump said Thursday.
“Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia, one of the guardsmen that we’re talking about, highly respected, young, magnificent person … She’s just passed away. She’s no longer with us,” Trump said during his first live remarks since the attack.
Beckstrom was one of two Guard members shot in what authorities described as a targeted, “ambush-style” attack. The second victim, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, remains hospitalized in critical condition, Trump said.
Earlier Thursday, Beckstrom’s father told The New York Times that his daughter was unlikely to recover from her injuries.
“I’m holding her hand right now,” Gary Beckstrom said. “She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery.”
Both soldiers were part of the West Virginia National Guard, which deployed hundreds of service members to the capital as part of Trump’s crime-fighting initiative.
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey confirmed Beckstrom’s death in a social media post, saying she “served with courage, extraordinary resolve, and an unwavering sense of duty to her state and to her nation.”
Beckstrom, of Webster Springs, West Virginia, joined the Guard in June 2023.
