As investigators work to determine a motive, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that officials “believe he was radicalized since he’s been here in this country. We do believe it was through connections in his home community and state and we’re going to continue to talk to those who interacted with him, who were his family members.” She offered no additional information to support her statement.
Lakanwal resettled with his wife and their five sons, all under the age of 12, in Bellingham, Washington, but struggled, according to the community member, who shared emails that had been sent to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a nonprofit group that provides services to refugees.
“Rahmanullah has not been functional as a person, father and provider since March of last year, 03/2023. He quit his job that month, and his behavior has changed greatly,” the person wrote in a January 2024 email.
The emails described a man who was struggling to assimilate, unable to hold a steady job or commit to his English courses while he alternated between “periods of dark isolation and reckless travel.” Sometimes, he spent weeks in his “darkened room, not speaking to anyone, not even his wife or older kids.” At one point in 2023, the family faced eviction after months of not paying rent.
The community member, in an interview, spoke of becoming worried that Lakanwal was so depressed that he would end up harming himself. But the community member did not see any indication that Lakanwal would commit violence against another person.
Lakanwal’s family members often resorted to sending his toddler sons into his room to bring him the phone or messages because he would not respond to anyone else, one email stated. A couple of times, when his wife left him with the kids for a week to travel to visit relatives, the children would not be bathed, their clothes would not be changed, and they would not eat well. Their school raised concerns about the situation.
But then, there were “interim” weeks where Lakanwal would try to make amends and “do the right things,” according to the email, reengaging with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services as was mandated by the terms of his entry into the U.S.
“But that has quickly evolved into ‘manic’ episodes for one or two weeks at a time, where he will take off in the family car, and drive nonstop,” the email outlined. Once, he went to Chicago, and another time, to Arizona.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia, said this past week that Lakanwal drove across the country from Bellingham, which is about 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Seattle, to the nation’s capital.
In response to the two emails, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants or USCRI, visited Bellingham a few weeks later in March 2024 and attempted to make contact with Lakanwal and his family, according to the community member, who, after not receiving any updates, was left with the impression that Lakanwal refused their assistance.
A request for comment and clarification from USCRI was not immediately returned.
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Republished with permission from The Associated Press.
