Army Recruiter Is Fatally Shot - NY Times

[Yrys]

Army Recruiter Is Fatally Shot

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A United States Army soldier was shot to death and a second soldier seriously
wounded outside a military recruiting station here by a man who opened fire from a vehicle Monday
morning, the police and Army officials said.

A suspect in the shooting was arrested minutes later a short distance from the recruiting station,
which is in a bustling suburban shopping center, by officers relying on a description of the vehicle,
a black sport utility vehicle, provided by several witnesses. An assault weapon was taken from the
S.U.V., a police spokesman said.

“He fired off several rounds,” a Little Rock police spokesman, Lt. Terry Hastings, said. “We have no
idea of a motive.” “We are only now beginning to question him, “Lieutenant Hastings said of the
suspect.

The dead man was identified by the Pulaski County coroner’s office as William Long, 23, of Conway,
Ark. The wounded soldier, identified by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as Quenton Ezeagwula, was
being treated at Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock, a hospital spokesperson said.

The shooting occurred at 10:19, outside an Army recruiting station at the Ashley Square Shopping
Center on the city’s affluent west side. The shopping center, at the intersection of Reservoir and
Rodney Parham Roads, is not far from the Breckenridge and Colony West subdivisions, and also
contains a pharmacy, delicatessen and restaurant.

Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the Army recruiting command at Fort Knox, Ky., said the soldiers
were participants in what is known as a hometown recruiter assistance program, and had returned
to Little Rock, their hometown, to talk up the Army experience with friends, relatives and former
neighbors. Although he did not have details about the victims, Mr. Smith said participants in the
program tend to be new soldiers recently out of basic training.

An eyewitness, Lance Luplow, told KATV he heard six or seven shots while he was in his front yard
across the street from the crime scene, and looked up to see the black vehicle pulling away and two
soldiers in military fatigues wounded. He ran to over the scene, he said, adding that the windows of
the vehicle were tinted, so he could not identify the driver.

One of the soldiers, shot in the buttocks and behind the ear, crawled into the recruiting office muttering,
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Mr. Luplow recounted. He said recruiters and soldiers from inside
the station immediately tried to stop the bleeding and apply CPR to the victims. “They were definitely
targeted,” Mr. Luplow said of the soldiers, noting that the truck seemed to stop briefly in front of the
office when the shots were fired and then sped off afterward.

A broad section of the shopping center’s parking lot was still cordoned by yellow police tape three hours
after the shooting, as police technicians scoured the scene looking for fingerprints and taking measurements.

Steve Barnes reported from Little Rock, and James Dao from New York.

 

[Smirnoff123]

I hope that the wounded recover quickly and for the slain to rest in peace, I'd really like to know what the motive of the gunman was.

 

[mariomike]

I'd really like to know what the motive of the gunman was.

"A man with "political and religious motives" killed a soldier just out of basic training and wounded another Monday in a targeted attack on a military recruiting center, police said. The shootings were not believed to be part of a broader scheme.

A police report based on an interview with the suspect says Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23, told police he observed two soldiers in uniform, drove up to the recruiting center and started shooting. "
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31048825/

 

[BlueJingo]

Makes me thankful for the panic button for when the crazies come to the RC.  :nod:

May the soldier rest in peace 

 

[Yrys]

Ark. Recruiting-Station Shooter Researched Other Possible Targets, ABC News
Recruiter Shooting Suspect Under FBI Investigation, ABC News


Suspect in Soldier Attack Was Once Detained in Yemen, NY Times

Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23, was
escorted from the Little Rock police head-
quarters in Arkansas on Monday.

A 23-year-old man charged with killing one soldier and seriously wounding another
in a shooting outside an Army recruiting office in Little Rock, Ark., was once detained
in Yemen for possessing a fake Somali passport and other counterfeit documents,
law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

The episode in Yemen prompted a preliminary inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investi-
gation and other American law enforcement agencies into whether the man, Abdulhakim
Mujahid Muhammad, had ties to extremist groups, the officials said. But that investigation
was inconclusive, they said, leaving the bureau with insufficient evidence to wiretap his
phone or put him under surveillance.

It is not clear when Mr. Muhammad, an American convert to Islam who was traveling on
a valid United States passport, was detained in Yemen or why he would have been carrying
counterfeit documents. His detention in Yemen was first reported Tuesday by ABC News.

Mr. Muhammad has been charged with one count of capital murder and 15 counts of terro-
ristic acts in Monday’s shooting, in a parking lot outside the recruiting office. He pleaded
not guilty Tuesday in a preliminary hearing before a state judge in Little Rock and was
ordered held there without bond at the Pulaski County jail.

Mr. Muhammad has told investigators that he acted alone, the Little Rock police said. But
his travels to Yemen and possibly Somalia raise questions about whether he met with any
of the militant Islamic groups that are active in both countries.

“Mr. Muhammad stated that he was mad at the U.S. military because of what they had done
to Muslims in the past,” an arrest report filed by the Little Rock police said. “Mr. Muhammad
further stated that he would have killed more soldiers if they had been on the parking lot.”

Pvt. William A. Long, 23, of Conway, Ark., was killed in the shooting. The wounded soldier,
Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville, Ark., was in good condition Tuesday at Baptist
Medical Center in Little Rock, the police said. The two soldiers were at the recruiting station
as a result of a program that uses troops recently out of basic training to promote the Army
in their home regions, Army officials said. Neither had ever been deployed to Iraq or
Afghanistan.

In an interview with KATV in Little Rock, Private Long’s father, Daris Long, said his son had
graduated from basic training at Fort Benning, Ga., just a week ago. “They weren’t on the
battlefield, but apparently the battlefield’s here,” he said.

Mr. Muhammad was heavily armed when he was arrested Monday shortly after fleeing the
shooting scene in his black Ford truck. The police confiscated an SKS military-style rifle and
a .22-caliber rifle found inside the truck, they said, as well as a .380-caliber semiautomatic
handgun he had tucked in his waistband. Mr. Muhammad was wearing a green utility belt
holding more than 150 rounds of ammunition for the two rifles, and an additional 24 rounds
for the handgun were in his pants pocket, according to a police inventory. Inside the truck,
the inventory said, investigators also found several boxes of ammunition and a red duffle bag
containing two homemade silencers, binoculars, clothing and medicine. There were also several
CDs labeled in Arabic writing. From Mr. Muhammad’s Little Rock apartment, the police seized a
computer, a cellphone and paper with handwriting in Arabic, the inventory said.

Mr. Muhammad changed his name from Carlos Bledsoe some time ago, the police said. His parents
operate tour bus and airport shuttle companies in Little Rock, Memphis and Mississippi. Stuart Thomas,
the police chief in Little Rock, said Mr. Muhammad apparently moved there from Tennessee just a few
months ago to work at his parents’ business. The Little Rock company, Twin City Tours, was closed on
Tuesday, and repeated calls were not returned.

Mr. Muhammad appeared at the brief hearing Tuesday morning in a dark blue prison suit and handcuffs,
with shackles around his legs. He did not speak, other than to whisper a few words to his lawyer, and
sat expressionless for most of the time. The Little Rock police said he apparently changed his name
around the time he converted to Islam, possibly as a teenager living in Tennessee.

But on May 23, he filed a petition with the Pulaski County clerk’s office to change his name again, this
time to Abdulhakim Bledsoe. On the petition, which had not been finalized, he attributed the requested
change to “religious reasons.”

Military recruiters said they could not recall a recent fatal attack against a recruiting station. But the
shootings were a reminder that recruiting offices are often targets of threats and sometimes actual
violence. Last year a small bomb shattered the glass facade of a military recruiting station in Times
Square. No one was injured in the early-morning explosion, which remains unsolved.

And in 2004 a 42-year-old man, apparently angry about having failed basic training 20 years before,
fired shots at an Air Force recruiter in San Leandro, Calif., before killing himself.

James Dao reported from New York, and David Johnston from Washington. Steve Barnes contributed
reporting from Little Rock, Ark. Alain Delaquérière contributed research.

 

[daftandbarmy]

But for goodness sakes, let's not 'profile' people  :

Luckily Arkansas has the death penalty. Let's hope they put this guy in the HOV lane.

Arkansas
Does my state have the death penalty?
Yes, Arkansas has executed a total of 27 people since 1976.

What is my governor's position on the death penalty?
Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) supports the death penalty.

How many people are on Death Row in my state?
There are currently 39 prisoners on Death Row in Arkansas. Of the 39 Death Row prisoners, 23 are black, 16 are white, and 1 is Latino.

A bill was introduced in the State Legislature in 2003 by Rep. Jim Lendall to impose a moratorium on the death penalty and to create a study commission—this bill died in committee in April 2003.

Is there anything like the Center on Wrongful Convictions in my state?
There is no Innocence Project devoted strictly to cases in this state. However, The Innocence Project at Cardozo School of Law in New York City does handle some non-New York cases.

Was anyone on Death Row ever found innocent in my state?
To date, no prisoner on Death Row has been found innocent in Arkansas.


http://deadlinethemovie.com/state/AR/index.php