Air Force Staff Sergeant Recovering Following Sustaining Gunshot Wounds in Washington DC
A member of the Air National Guard is showing improvement after he was critically injured in an ambush-style shooting last month in Washington DC.
The parents of the 24-year-old soldier, 24, report "his head wound is slowly healing and that he's starting to 'regain his familiar appearance,'" stated West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey.
The soldier's relatives expects the military non-commissioned officer to be in intensive treatment for the next two to three weeks, and they feel hopeful about his recovery, said the governor.
Staff Sgt Wolfe was one of a pair of West Virginia National Guard members injured by gunfire when a gunman began shooting in proximity to the presidential residence on 26 November. His colleague, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, succumbed to her wounds.
"Our request remains for all state residents and Americans for their prayers!" Morrisey declared.
Morrisey was present at a vigil on Friday evening for Staff Sgt Wolfe at Musselman High School in his hometown, where the guardsman was once a student.
A pastor at the vigil read a statement from the guardsman's mother and father, his family.
"We know that there is a long road to go," they wrote, according to local news outlet Metro News.
"However our faith keeps us optimistic. We remain thankful for the prayers and the encouragement from people all over the world."
Earlier in the week, the governor said the serviceman had responded to a nurse with a positive gesture and was capable of move his toes.
Law enforcement have charged the suspected shooter, an individual from Afghanistan named Rahmanullah Lakanwal, with first-degree murder 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 CIA-backed unit that worked with American troops in the South Asian nation.
The injured airman was one of two thousand militia personnel whom President Donald Trump deployed to the nation's capitol in August as part of his immigration and crime-related crackdown in urban centers.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Trump said he wanted an additional five hundred National Guard troops deployed to the District of Columbia.
The Trump administration has also cited the shooting as a justification for further restrictive policies.
They have cancelled all citizenship ceremonies for immigrants from a list of nations that were part of a travel ban announced over the recent season, among them the suspect's home country.