Air Force Staff Sergeant Healing After Being Shot in the Nation's Capital

A member of the Air National Guard is showing improvement after he was critically injured in an ambush-style shooting last month in the US capital.

The family of the 24-year-old soldier, twenty-four, report "the injury to his head is gradually improving and that he's starting to 'regain his familiar appearance,'" said the state's chief executive Patrick Morrisey.

The soldier's relatives anticipates the Air Force staff sergeant to be in intensive treatment for the next two to three weeks, and they feel optimistic about his progress, said the governor.

The serviceman was one of a pair of state guardsmen shot when a shooter opened fire not far from the White House on 26 November. His colleague, twenty-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, succumbed to her wounds.

"Our request remains for all state residents and Americans for their thoughts and prayers!" the governor said.

Morrisey was present at a vigil on last Friday night for Staff Sgt Wolfe at a local secondary school in Inwood, West Virginia, where the serviceman was once a pupil.

A pastor at the event read a message from the soldier's parents, Jason and Melody Wolfe.

"It is clear to us that there is a difficult journey to go," they expressed, according to local news outlet Metro News.

"But our faith keeps us hopeful. We remain thankful for the well-wishes and the encouragement from people all over the world."

Previously, the governor said the serviceman had responded to a nurse with a thumbs-up and was able to move his toes.

Police have formally accused the alleged gunman, an Afghan national named Rahmanullah Lakanwal, with premeditated homicide and assault with intent to kill.

Before coming 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.

The injured airman 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 Democratic-led cities.

In the aftermath of the incident, the former president said he wanted another 500 National Guard troops sent to the nation's capital.

The Trump administration has also referenced the shooting as a justification for additional immigration crackdown measures.

They have cancelled all citizenship ceremonies for foreign nationals from a list of nations that were part of a entry restriction announced over the recent season, among them the suspect's home country.