Air Force Staff Sergeant Recovering Following Sustaining Gunshot Wounds in Washington DC
A servicemember of the Air National Guard is on the mend after he was critically injured in an ambush-style shooting last month in Washington DC.
The family of the 24-year-old soldier, 24, report "his head wound is slowly healing and that he's beginning to 'regain his familiar appearance,'" said the state's chief executive Patrick Morrisey.
The family expects 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 a pair of state guardsmen shot when a gunman opened fire in proximity to the White House on November 26th. His colleague, twenty-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, died from her injuries.
"Our request remains for all West Virginians and Americans for their prayers!" Morrisey declared.
The governor attended a vigil on last Friday night for the injured soldier at Musselman High School in Inwood, West Virginia, where the guardsman was once a student.
A pastor at the event read a message from the soldier's parents, Jason and Melody Wolfe.
"It is clear to us that there is a long road to go," they expressed, as reported by local news outlet outlets.
"But our faith keeps us hopeful. We remain grateful for the prayers and the encouragement from people all over the world."
Previously, the state official said Staff Sgt Wolfe had acknowledged medical staff with a thumbs-up and was capable of wiggle his feet.
Police have charged the alleged gunman, an Afghan national named the suspect, with premeditated homicide 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 paramilitary group that worked with American troops in Afghanistan.
The injured airman was one of two thousand National Guard members whom the former president 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 wanted an additional five hundred military personnel sent to the nation's capital.
The former presidential office has also referenced the attack 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 travel ban announced over the summer, including Afghanistan.
