Air Force Staff Sergeant Recovering Following Sustaining Gunshot Wounds in Washington DC
A servicemember 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 gradually improving and that he's beginning to 'look more like himself,'" said West Virginia Governor the governor.
The family anticipates the military non-commissioned officer to be in acute care 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 gunman began shooting in proximity to the White House on November 26th. His colleague, twenty-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, succumbed to her wounds.
"We continue to ask all West Virginians and the nation's citizens for their prayers!" the governor said.
The governor attended a vigil on last Friday night for Staff Sgt Wolfe at Musselman High School in Inwood, West Virginia, where the guardsman was once a student.
A clergyman at the event shared a statement from the soldier's parents, his family.
"We know that there is a difficult journey to go," they wrote, according to local news outlet outlets.
"But our faith keeps us optimistic. We remain grateful for the well-wishes and the encouragement from people all over the globe."
Earlier in the week, the governor said Staff Sgt Wolfe had acknowledged medical staff with a positive gesture and was able to wiggle his feet.
Law enforcement have formally accused the alleged gunman, an individual from Afghanistan named Rahmanullah Lakanwal, with first-degree murder and assault with intent to kill.
Prior to his arrival to the US in two years ago, he was once a counterterrorism soldier in a CIA-backed unit that worked with American troops in Afghanistan.
The injured airman was one of 2,000 National Guard members whom President Donald Trump deployed to the nation's capitol in last summer as part of his immigration and crime-related crackdown in urban centers.
Following the shooting, the former president said he wanted an additional five hundred National Guard troops deployed to the District of Columbia.
The Trump administration has also referenced the shooting as a reason for additional immigration crackdown measures.
They have cancelled all citizenship ceremonies for foreign nationals from a list of nations that were part of a entry restriction implemented over the recent season, including Afghanistan.
