National Guardsman Healing 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 slowly healing and that he's beginning to 'regain his familiar appearance,'" said West Virginia Governor the governor.
The soldier's relatives anticipates the military non-commissioned officer to be in acute care for the coming fortnight, and they feel hopeful about his recovery, according to the official's statement.
Staff Sgt Wolfe was one of a pair of West Virginia National Guard members shot when a gunman opened fire not far from the presidential residence on 26 November. His colleague, twenty-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, succumbed to her wounds.
"Our request remains for all West Virginians and the nation's citizens for their prayers!" the governor said.
Morrisey was present at a candlelight gathering on Friday evening for the injured soldier at Musselman High School in Inwood, West Virginia, where the guardsman was once a student.
A clergyman at the vigil read a statement from the guardsman's mother and father, his family.
"It is clear to us that there is a difficult journey to go," they wrote, according to regional media outlets.
"But our faith keeps us optimistic. We remain thankful for the well-wishes and the encouragement from people all over the world."
Previously, the governor said Staff Sgt Wolfe had acknowledged medical staff with a thumbs-up and was capable of move his toes.
Police have formally accused the suspected shooter, an Afghan national named Rahmanullah Lakanwal, with premeditated homicide and assault with intent to kill.
Prior to his arrival 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 US forces in Afghanistan.
Staff Sgt Wolfe was one of 2,000 militia personnel 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, Trump said he wanted an additional five hundred military personnel sent to the nation's capital.
The Trump administration has also referenced the shooting as a reason for further 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.
