Air Force Staff Sergeant Recovering After Sustaining Gunshot Wounds in the Nation's Capital
A servicemember of the National Guard is showing improvement after he was critically injured in an targeted attack last month in the US capital.
The parents 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 the state's chief executive Patrick Morrisey.
The family anticipates the Air Force staff sergeant 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 a pair of West Virginia National Guard members injured by gunfire when a gunman opened fire in proximity to the presidential residence on 26 November. His fellow guardsmember, 20-year-old his counterpart, succumbed to her wounds.
"We continue to ask all West Virginians and Americans for their thoughts and prayers!" the governor said.
The governor was present at a vigil on last Friday night for the injured soldier at a local secondary school in Inwood, West Virginia, where the serviceman was once a student.
A clergyman at the vigil read a statement from the guardsman's mother and father, Jason and Melody Wolfe.
"We know that there is a difficult journey to go," they wrote, as reported by local news outlet outlets.
"But our belief keeps us hopeful. We remain grateful for the prayers and the support from people all over the world."
Previously, the governor said the serviceman had responded to a nurse with a thumbs-up and was able to wiggle his feet.
Law enforcement have formally accused the suspected shooter, an individual from Afghanistan named Rahmanullah Lakanwal, with first-degree murder and attempted murder.
Before coming to the United States in two years ago, he was once a member of a special forces unit in a CIA-backed unit that operated alongside American troops in the South Asian nation.
Staff Sgt Wolfe was one of two thousand militia personnel whom President Donald Trump dispatched to the Washington DC in August as part of his policy initiative in urban centers.
Following the shooting, Trump said he desired another 500 military personnel deployed to the nation's capital.
The Trump administration has also cited the attack as a justification for additional restrictive policies.
They have cancelled all citizenship ceremonies for foreign nationals from 19 countries that were part of a entry restriction announced over the summer, including Afghanistan.
