National Guardsman Recovering After Sustaining Gunshot Wounds in Washington DC

A member of the Air National Guard is on the mend after he was gravely wounded in an targeted attack last month in the US capital.

The family of the 24-year-old soldier, twenty-four, say "his head wound is slowly healing and that he's starting to 'look more like himself,'" said the state's chief executive Patrick Morrisey.

The family expects the military non-commissioned officer to be in intensive treatment for the coming fortnight, and they feel optimistic about his progress, said the governor.

Staff Sgt Wolfe was one of a pair of state guardsmen shot when a gunman opened fire not far from the presidential residence on 26 November. His colleague, twenty-year-old his counterpart, died from her injuries.

"We continue to ask all West Virginians and the nation's citizens for their thoughts and prayers!" the governor said.

Morrisey was present at a vigil on last Friday night for the injured soldier at Musselman High School in his hometown, where the guardsman was once a pupil.

A clergyman at the event read a statement from the guardsman's mother and father, Jason and Melody Wolfe.

"It is clear to us that there is a long road to go," they wrote, according to local news outlet Metro News.

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

Earlier in the week, the governor said the serviceman had acknowledged medical staff with a thumbs-up and was capable of wiggle his feet.

Police have formally accused the suspected shooter, an Afghan national 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 member of a special forces unit in a CIA-backed unit that worked with US forces in Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt Wolfe was one of two thousand National Guard members whom the former president dispatched to the nation's capitol in August as part of his policy initiative in Democratic-led cities.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Trump said he wanted another 500 National Guard troops deployed to the District of Columbia.

The former presidential office has also cited the shooting as a justification for additional immigration crackdown measures.

They have halted naturalization proceedings for foreign nationals from a list of nations that were part of a entry restriction implemented over the summer, among them Afghanistan.