Gunman Kills Soldier Outside Recruiting Station

By STEVE BARNES and JAMES DAO
Published: June 1, 2009

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A 23-year-old man upset about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan opened fire from his truck at two soldiers standing outside a military recruiting station here on Monday morning, killing one private and wounding another, the police said.

Brian Chilson/Associated Press

Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23, was escorted from the Little Rock police headquarters in Arkansas on Monday. Muhammad is the suspect in the killing of a soldier in a targeted attack on a military recruiting center, police said.

The gunman, identified by the police as Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad of Little Rock, fled the scene and was arrested minutes later a short distance from the recruiting station, in a bustling suburban shopping center. The police confiscated a Russian-made SKS semiautomatic rifle, a .22-caliber rifle and a handgun from his black pickup truck.

The two privates, who were both from Arkansas, were in Little Rock as part of a recruiting program that typically uses soldiers recently out of basic training to promote the Army in their home regions, Army officials said.

“They were serving their country,” said Lt. Col. Thomas F. Artis, commander of the Oklahoma City recruiting battalion, which includes Arkansas. “They were just standing outside, just taking a five-minute break, just minding their own business — and this happens.”

The dead soldier was identified as Pvt. William A. Long, 23, of Conway, about 30 miles north of Little Rock. The other victim, Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, was in stable condition at Baptist Medical Center, Chief Stuart Thomas of the Little Rock Police Department said.

In a lengthy interview with the police, Mr. Muhammad said he was angry about the killing of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, Chief Thomas said. Previously known as Carlos Bledsoe, Mr. Muhammad told investigators that he had converted to Islam as a teenager, Chief Thomas said.

Chief Thomas said investigators believe that Mr. Muhammad acted alone. He seemed to be familiar with the Army recruiting office because it was not far from his home, the chief said, but might have been on the prowl for anyone in uniform.

“I would say he was looking for any and all targets of opportunity that happened to be military,” the chief said in a telephone interview. “That may have well been the first place he found.”

Mr. Muhammad will be charged with one count of capital murder and 15 counts of terroristic acts, one for each person who was hit or endangered by the shots he fired. Thirteen people were in the recruiting office at the time.

Chief Thomas said Mr. Muhammad had previously lived in Memphis and Nashville and moved to Little Rock just a few months ago, possibly to work at his parents’ tour company.

At Mr. Muhammad’s apartment complex in west Little Rock, a collection of low-rise buildings known as Bristol Park, residents said they were evacuated for four hours on Monday while the police searched Mr. Muhammad’s apartment.

Though many at the apartment complex said they did not know him, two people, who declined to give their names, said Mr. Muhammad often wore a uniform, possibly for work.

A witness to the shooting, Lance P. Luplow, said he was parking his car in front of his house across the street from the recruiting office when he heard about seven loud bangs and looked up to see the black truck with tinted windows speeding away, its tailgate down and bottles of water rolling from the flatbed into the street.

Mr. Luplow, 26, said he ran across the street to the recruiting station, where he saw one soldier in fatigues lying still in a pool of blood, while a second one was crawling into the station, holding a bloodied ear.

“He was saying, ‘Tell me this isn’t real, tell me this isn’t real,’ ” Mr. Luplow said.

He said other soldiers from the station had tried to stop the bleeding and performed CPR on the victims before ambulances arrived.

Army recruiting officials said they could not recall any recent fatal attacks on Army recruiting offices. But bomb threats and vandalism against recruiting offices are not uncommon. Last year, a small bomb shattered the glass facade of the military recruiting station in Times Square.

Steve Barnes reported from Little Rock, and James Dao from New York. Alain Delaquérière contributed research.