WASHINGTON — Two National Guard members on patrol just blocks from the White House were shot and critically wounded on Wednesday afternoon, prompting a rapid law enforcement and military response across a busy stretch of downtown Washington.

A gunman was taken into custody after another Guardsman returned fire and moved in to stop him, officials said.

The patrol had been rounding a corner near Farragut Square when the attacker opened fire, striking both soldiers in the initial exchange. The Guard members, a woman and a man assigned to a high-visibility deployment ordered by President Donald Trump, had little time to react before colleagues intervened.

The suspect has been identified as a 29-year-old Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who had been living in Bellingham, Washington, a city near the Canadian border, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

The person said the gunman waited for the patrol to come into view and began shooting, hitting the woman first before taking her service weapon and shooting at the other Guardsman. The male soldier was struck in the neck before another member of the unit shot the attacker.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called the incident a “targeted shooting.” Trump, who was in Florida, said the suspect would “pay a very steep price” and ordered an additional 500 troops deployed to the nation’s capital.

While officials stressed that their investigation was just beginning and that the motives of the suspect — who was being treated at a local hospital — remained unknown, the violence was certain to reignite debate over Trump’s deployment of federal troops in cities across the country.

The president deployed more than 2,000 National Guard members on the streets of Washington in August, saying they were needed to support federal and District of Columbia law enforcement. But the move proved unpopular with city residents, and a federal judge recently ruled that the deployment was likely illegal — though guardsmen were not required to leave the District immediately to allow time for appeal.

The shooting occurred at approximately 2:15 p.m. local time, near the entrance to the Farragut West Metro station. There was no initial indication the perpetrator had been riding the Metro, which continued to operate.

Following the shooting, other members of the National Guard in the area and members of law enforcement were “able to assist and bring that individual into custody,” Metropolitan Police Department Executive Assistant Chief Jeffery Carroll said. The suspect was also shot, he added, saying that at this time there were no other suspects.

“They actually were able to intervene and to kind of hold down the suspect after he had been shot on the ground until law enforcement got there,” Carroll said.

Nearby streets were swiftly blocked off with yellow tape as offices emptied before the Thanksgiving holiday. Nearby government buildings including the White House and Treasury Department were initially put on lockdown.

D.C. Police and federal law enforcement will work together to investigate the shooting and possible motives. There is currently no indication that there are additional suspects, Carroll added.

Police did not release the name of the National Guard members or the suspect. Earlier, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey said the victims were from his state and had died, only to subsequently retract that statement citing “conflicting reports.”

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth described the attack as a “cowardly, dastardly act” targeting the guardsmen. He said Trump had told him to deploy the additional troops to D.C. and that he would move promptly to do so.

“We will never back down,” Hegseth said. “We will secure our capital.”

Speaking from an event in Kentucky, Vice President JD Vance said, “We still don’t know the motive. There’s a lot that we haven’t yet figured out.”

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