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 targeted attack last month in Washington DC.
The parents of Andrew Wolfe, 24, say "his head wound is gradually improving and that he's beginning to 'regain his familiar appearance,'" said the state's chief executive the governor.
The soldier's relatives expects the military non-commissioned officer to be in acute care for the next two to three weeks, and they feel hopeful about his progress, according to the official's statement.
Staff Sgt Wolfe was one of two state guardsmen injured by gunfire when a shooter began shooting in proximity to the presidential residence on 26 November. His fellow guardsmember, 20-year-old his counterpart, died from her injuries.
"We continue to ask all West Virginians and Americans for their thoughts and prayers!" the governor said.
The governor attended a vigil on last Friday night for Staff Sgt Wolfe at Musselman High School in Inwood, West Virginia, where the guardsman was once a pupil.
A pastor at the event read a message from the guardsman's mother and father, his family.
"It is clear to us that there is a long road to go," they wrote, according to regional media Metro News.
"However our faith keeps us optimistic. We remain thankful for the prayers and the support from people all over the globe."
Earlier in the week, the state official said the serviceman had responded to a nurse with a thumbs-up and was capable of move his toes.
Police 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 United States in two years ago, he was once a counterterrorism soldier in a CIA-backed unit that worked with US forces in Afghanistan.
Staff Sgt Wolfe was one of 2,000 National Guard members whom the former president deployed to the Washington DC in August as part of his immigration and crime-related crackdown in urban centers.
In the aftermath of the shooting, the former president said he desired another 500 National Guard troops deployed to the nation's capital.
The Trump administration has also cited the shooting as a reason for additional restrictive policies.
They have halted naturalization proceedings for immigrants from a list of nations that were part of a entry restriction implemented over the recent season, including Afghanistan.