National Guardsman Healing After Being Shot in Washington DC
A servicemember of the National Guard is showing improvement after he was gravely wounded in an ambush-style shooting last month in the US capital.
The parents of the 24-year-old soldier, twenty-four, say "his head wound is slowly healing and that he's starting to 'look more like himself,'" said the state's chief executive Patrick Morrisey.
The family anticipates the military non-commissioned officer to be in acute care for the coming fortnight, and they feel hopeful about his progress, according to the official's statement.
The serviceman was one of two West Virginia National Guard members shot when a shooter opened fire not far from the White House on 26 November. His colleague, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, succumbed to her wounds.
"We continue to ask all state residents and Americans for their prayers!" Morrisey declared.
Morrisey was present at a candlelight gathering on last Friday night for the injured soldier at Musselman High School in his hometown, where the serviceman was once a pupil.
A clergyman at the event shared a message from the soldier's parents, Jason and Melody Wolfe.
"We know that there is a long road to go," they wrote, according to local news outlet Metro News.
"However our belief keeps us hopeful. We remain grateful for the well-wishes and the encouragement from people all over the world."
Previously, the state official said Staff Sgt Wolfe had responded to a nurse 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 first-degree murder and attempted murder.
Before coming to the United States in 2021, he was once a counterterrorism soldier in a CIA-backed unit that worked with American troops in the South Asian nation.
Staff Sgt Wolfe was one of two thousand National Guard members whom President Donald Trump dispatched to the Washington DC in last summer as part of his immigration and crime-related crackdown in Democratic-led cities.
Following the incident, the former president said he desired another 500 National Guard troops deployed to the District of Columbia.
The Trump administration has also cited the shooting as a justification for additional immigration crackdown measures.
They have halted naturalization proceedings for foreign nationals from a list of nations that were part of a entry restriction announced over the recent season, among them Afghanistan.