National Guardsman Recovering After Sustaining Gunshot Wounds in the Nation's Capital
A member of the National Guard is showing improvement after he was critically injured in an ambush-style shooting last month in Washington DC.
The family of the 24-year-old soldier, 24, say "the injury to his head is gradually improving and that he's beginning to 'look more like himself,'" stated West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey.
The soldier's relatives 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, said the governor.
Staff Sgt Wolfe was one of a pair of West Virginia National Guard members injured by gunfire when a gunman opened fire not far from the White House on November 26th. His fellow guardsmember, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, succumbed to her wounds.
"We continue to ask all state residents and the nation's citizens for their thoughts and prayers!" Morrisey declared.
Morrisey attended a vigil on Friday evening for Staff Sgt Wolfe at a local secondary school in Inwood, West Virginia, where the serviceman was once a pupil.
A clergyman at the event shared a message from the guardsman's mother and father, Jason and Melody Wolfe.
"It is clear to us that there is a long road to go," they expressed, according to local news outlet Metro News.
"However our belief keeps us optimistic. We remain thankful for the prayers and the support from people all over the world."
Earlier in the week, the state official said Staff Sgt Wolfe had acknowledged medical staff with a positive gesture and was capable of wiggle his feet.
Police have charged the suspected shooter, an individual from Afghanistan named the suspect, with premeditated homicide and assault with intent to kill.
Prior to his arrival to the United States in 2021, he was once a counterterrorism soldier in a paramilitary group that worked with American troops in Afghanistan.
The injured airman was one of two thousand National Guard members whom President Donald Trump dispatched to the Washington DC in August as part of his immigration and crime-related crackdown in Democratic-led cities.
Following the shooting, the former president said he wanted an additional five hundred military personnel deployed to the nation's capital.
The former presidential office has also cited the attack as a justification for further restrictive policies.
They have halted naturalization proceedings for immigrants from a list of nations that were part of a entry restriction implemented over the recent season, among them the suspect's home country.
