CNN senior law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey appeared to question National Guardsmen training Wednesday just minutes after two guardsmen were shot near the White House.
Two National Guardsmen were shot and left in critical condition Wednesday, blocks away from the White House just before 3:00 p.m. local time. Minutes after the news broke, CNN’s Omar Jimenez stated former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe previously discussed the dynamic of local and federal agents in comparison to the National Guard, before asking Ramsey his thoughts on the incident.
“One of the dynamics that Andy McCabe was talking about was sort of, you know, usually on the streets you see police officers, you might see federal agents that typically are more used to interfacing with the public or dealing with situations, unfortunately, like this,” Jimenez said. “We still don’t know the circumstances here, but can you just tell us a little bit about how police are typically trained if there is a confrontation on the streets, if they run into a situation where someone may come up with a weapon, and where to go from there?”
Ramsey stated that while details of the incident and motive have not been released, his concern about the safety of the National Guard has been on their training.
“Well, I mean, obviously you have the de-escalation training, you have use of force standards that are in place. You have all these things that are part of the training. My memory serves me correct, the basic training for Metropolitan Police Department officers is somewhere around 800 hours of training,” Ramsey responded. “I’m not saying anything negative about the National Guardsmen. They have been deployed, they’re doing what they’ve been asked to do. I see that they’re armed. I don’t know how much training they received in general, because from what they’re trained as part of the military.”
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“Now, having said that, we don’t know the circumstances around this at all,” Ramsey added. So it’s very difficult to say, but that’s been a concern of mine early on. I was in D.C. last week, and I saw the National Guard, some of the National Guardsmen, walking down the street, they were in groups of four, and I spoke to them, they spoke to me. I mean, they were just, it was just very casual, it was nothing out of the ordinary.”
The National Guard were deployed to Washington D.C., on Aug. 11 by President Donald Trump, as he also invoked Section 40 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act in order to crack down on crime. Despite Democrats’ pushback about the decision, Trump made the announcement after a slew of crimes in Washington D.C., garnered national media attention.
The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) posted a warning to local residents about the incident at the time of the shooting, confirming officers responded to 17th and I Street NW. With emergency vehicles reportedly rushing to the area and multiple agencies on the scene, the MPD later confirmed a suspect was in custody.
Trump, in a post on Truth Social, confirmed the the two guardsmen shot were in critical condition.
Republican West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey had originally posted a statement claiming he received word that the two guardsmen were both deceased due to their injuries, but he later walked back to claim. Morrisey cited “conflicting reports about the condition” of the two guardsmen, stating he would update when he received new information.
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