2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting The 2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting took place on June 1 , 2009 , when the American Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad , born Carlos Leon Bledsoe , opened fire with a rifle in a drive - by shooting on soldiers in front of a United States military recruiting office in Little Rock , Arkansas . He killed Private William Long , and wounded Private Quinton Ezeagwula . After his arrest , Muhammad acknowledged shooting the men . He told police that he had intended to kill as many Army personnel as possible . He had an SKS rifle , a Mossberg International 702 rifle , two handguns , 562 rounds of ammunition , and military books in his car . Muhammad was charged with capital murder , attempted capital murder , and 10 counts of unlawful discharge of a weapon . Muhammad also reportedly faced 15 counts of engaging in a terrorist act . A convert to Islam , Muhammad had gone to Yemen in 2007 to teach English and study Islam , staying about 16 months . He was deported from Yemen to the United States , after having overstayed his visa and been detained . In January 2010 , Muhammad wrote to the judge in his case . He claimed for the first time that he was sent on the attacks by Al - Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ( AQAP ) , and pleaded guilty to the charges of capital murder . He had not consulted with his lawyers , and no independent confirmation of his claim has been made . His father described him as " unable to process reality " . The lead prosecutor for Pulaski County , Arkansas said about Muhammad ' s attack , " If you strip away what he says , self - serving or not , it ’ s just an awful killing , it ’ s like a lot of other killings we have . " His shooting attack was the first of two in 2009 at US military facilities . In the Fort Hood shooting in November , a US Army psychiatrist shot and killed 13 and wounded 29 other soldiers . Although a Senate special report chaired by the Independent Joseph Lieberman declared it " the deadliest terrorist attack within the United States since September 11 , 2001 " Nidal Malik Hasan was charged with murder and was sentenced to death . The Arkansas prosecutor took the Muhammad case to trial in 2011 . The defense lawyers said that the young man suffered " a delusional disorder . " During the trial , Muhammad changed his plea to guilty and the prosecutor accepted it . On July 25 , 2011 , Muhammed was sentenced to life in prison . At trial , the suspect was charged by the state with capital murder and related charges , not terrorism . Some terrorism experts have noted a connection to other homegrown terror plots in recent years , including targets , ideological motives and religious inspiration . Other experts believe the stated ideological or religious reasons maybe simply be a cover for personal problem . Shooting . Attack . Muhammad drove by the Little Rock U . S . Army recruiting center at 9112 North Rodney Parham Road near Reservoir Road in a black 2003 Ford Explorer Sport Trac at 10 : 19 a . m . on June 1 , 2009 . Private William Andrew " Andy " Long , 23 , of Conway , Arkansas , and Private Quinton I . Ezeagwula , 18 , of Jacksonville , Arkansas , were standing outside the recruiting center in uniform , smoking cigarettes . Muhammad saw them , approached , stopped his vehicle , and shot them with an SKS rifle . The two victims had just completed basic training two weeks prior , and volunteered to work as recruiters , which was not their regular assignment . A witness , Lance P . Luplow , heard approximately seven loud bangs and then saw a black truck with tinted windows speeding away , with its tailgate down spilling bottles of water onto the street . Luplow ran to Long , who had been shot several times , and was lying still in a pool of blood on the sidewalk . Ezeagwula was crawling to the door , holding a bloodied ear . Ezeagwula exclaimed : " Tell me this isn ’ t real , tell me this isn ’ t real " . Other soldiers came to treat the wounded , and performed CPR on Long . Long was dead upon arrival at a hospital . Ezeagwula , who was shot in his back , head , and buttocks , was rushed into surgery at Baptist Hospital in critical condition . Long ' s father later remarked : " They weren ' t on the battlefield ; but apparently , the battlefield ' s here . " Attempted escape . Muhammad sped away , planning to drive 150 miles to Memphis , Tennessee , where he intended to switch cars . After a short pursuit , Muhammad took a wrong turn in a construction zone , and local police officers captured him eight miles from the recruiting center , near the intersection of Interstate 30 and I - Interstate 630 near downtown Little Rock . He surrendered to Little Rock police officers without incident . He stepped out of his SUV , wearing a green ammo belt . He said : " It ' s a war going on against Muslims , and that is why I did it " . He used language " indicating an association with " jihad " " , and claimed that he had explosives , but none were found . He was found to be in possession of an SKS rifle , a Mossberg International 702 rifle with scope and laser sight , a . 22 caliber handgun , a Lorcin L - 380 semi - automatic handgun , 562 rounds of ammunition loaded in magazines , homemade sound suppressors , binoculars , a " suspicious " package , and two military books . A police search of his apartment turned up Molotov cocktail s , homemade sound suppressors , and compact discs labeled with Arabic writing . Motive and other targets . Muhammad said later : " I was trying to kill them . " He said he would have killed more soldiers , had more been there . Muhammad said that he did not regard his action as murder , because American military actions in the Middle East justify the slaying of Americans . " I do feel I ' m not guilty , " he said to the Associated Press , " I don ' t think it was murder because murder is when a person kills another person without justified reason . " Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas said , " At this point it appears that he specifically targeted military personnel . " According to law enforcement officials , Muhammad " had conducted research on other targets , including military sites , government facilities , and Jewish institutions " throughout the country . Press accounts noted New York City military facilities , such as the Times Square Recruiting Station , which was bombed March 6 , 2008 , had been previously targeted for violence . The suspect . The suspect , Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad , previously known as Carlos Leon Bledsoe , was born on July 9 , 1985 in Memphis , Tennessee to Melvin Bledsoe , a businessman , and his wife Linda . He has a sister Monica . Raised as a Baptist and considered a " sunny child " , he graduated from Craigmont High School in Memphis in 2003 . He attended Tennessee State University in Nashville , Tennessee , for three semesters . At the age of 19 , Bledsoe converted to Islam in 2004 at Masjid As - Salam , a Memphis mosque . He has said " I ' ve loved " jihad " ever since I became Muslim . " He became more devout and prayed regularly at the Islamic Center of Nashville , wearing Arab - style clothing . By 2007 he was a deeply religious Muslim and had legally changed his name to Muhammad . Yemen ( September 2007 – January 2009 ) . In 2007 , Muhammad traveled to visit Yemen and stayed there for about 16 months , ostensibly visiting to teach English ( at an institute called The British Academy , and other places in Aden and Sana ' a ) , to learn Arabic , and to further his understanding of Islam . Marriage and family . While there , in September 2008 he married Reena Abdullah Ahmed Farag , a woman from South Yemen who worked as an elementary school teacher . She was left behind when he was deported , but he later sent for her . Detention . In his handwritten letters of May to October 2010 , Muhammad claimed to have known people in Yemen who " showed him around and helped him get started , " but didn ' t say who they were or how he met them , declining to do so for what he referred to as " security reasons . " He claimed to have been " asked many times to carry out a martyrdom operation in America " , but " didn ' t have proper training in regards to explosives . " He said he tried to travel to Somalia for weapons and bomb - making training , particularly car - bomb - making . He wrote in 2010 , " [ H ] ad I got this training my story would have ended a lot differently than it ' s going to end now . My drive - by would have been a drive - in , with no one escaping the aftermath . " Muhammad was arrested at a roadside checkpoint in Yemen on November 14 , 2008 . He had overstayed his visa , lacked the proper government permissions to travel , and was holding a fraudulent Somali passport . According to his 2010 letters about this period , in his car were found explosive manuals that included tips such as how to make gun silencers , literature by Anwar Al - Awlaki ( the late cleric in Yemen linked to Al - Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ) , videos and literature about " Muslim soldiers in different parts of the world " , and " people ' s numbers on my phone that were wanted in Saudi Arabia . " Imprisoned for over two months in Yemen , Muhammad said in his account that he was " maybe insulted in interrogation a few times , but not tortured " . He began planning to carry out " jihad " against the U . S . while he was in prison . James E . Hensley Jr . , Muhammad ' s American lawyer after his arrest in the United States , later said that he was radicalized by Islamic fundamentalist s while in prison . Under pressure from the United States , Yemen deported Muhammad to the U . S . on January 29 , 2008 . Because his original plan to travel to Somalia for bomb training had been foiled by his arrest in Yemen , Muhammad said he revised his plan " with the help of the " Mujahideen " " , the Al - Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula " ( AQAP ) . Investigators have not independently confirmed his claims . Return to the U . S . ( January 2009 – present ) . After his return , Muhammad initially stayed with his parents in Memphis . He moved to Little Rock , Arkansas in April , where his father opened an office to provide a job for his son and a chance for him to bring his wife from Yemen . His parents ran a successful tour bus business ( " Twin City Tours " ) , and he worked for his father as a driver . After his return , Muhammad was investigated by the FBI ' s Joint Terrorism Task Force . The Task Force also investigated the suspect ' s visit to Columbus , Ohio ; authorities had monitored some Somali Americans traveling from there to Somalia to " wage " jihad " . " Following his arrest and indictment , in January 2010 , Muhammad wrote to the judge in his case and pleaded guilty to the charges . After that , according to Muhammed ' s seven handwritten letters from May to October 2010 , which he sent to " The Commercial Appeal " newspaper , he described his planning and activities related to his June 2009 attack , which he claimed to have planned for weeks . He claimed to have bought several guns secondhand to avoid FBI scrutiny , stockpiled ammunition , practiced target shooting , and bought a . 22 - caliber rifle at Wal - Mart to determine whether he was being watched . Muhammad said in his letters that none of his attacks had gone as planned . His initial plan was to kill " 3 Zionist rabbis in Memphis , Little Rock , and Nashville . Then target recruitment centers , from the South to the nation ' s capital . And other Zionist organizations in the northeast . " He used Google Maps to investigate targeting recruiting centers in at least five states ( including ones in the cities of New York , Atlanta , Louisville , and Philadelphia ) , Times Square in New York City ; Jewish institutions ( including in Atlanta ) ; a day - care center , a post office , and a Baptist church , according to the U . S . Department of Homeland Security . According to Muhammad ' s letters , he began his " jihad " in Little Rock , doing " something " there . He drove to Nashville and threw a Molotov cocktail at the home of an orthodox rabbi , but it bounced off the target . He drove to an Army recruiting center in Florence , Kentucky , because " it was near an interstate and bordered Ohio . Easy to get away " , but the center was closed . He returned to Little Rock , where he shot the soldiers at the recruiting station . He was indict ed on one count of capital murder and 15 counts of terrorist acts . Mention in Congressional hearings . In a March 2011 Congressional hearing addressing the issue of domestic radicalization of Muslims , Muhammad ' s father Melvin Bledsoe , a business man from Memphis , spoke of his son ' s descent into extremism . Bledsoe described his son ' s religious conversion and travels to Yemen , where he had been “ trained and programmed ” to kill . Bledsoe said , “ Our children are in danger , ” and that , “ It seems to me that Americans are sitting around doing nothing about radical extremists . This is a big elephant in the room . ” On an earlier occasion , Bledsoe had said , " If it can happen to my son , it can happen to anyone ’ s son . ” Legal proceedings . Muhammad was charged by the state of Arkansas with capital murder , attempted capital murder , and 10 counts of unlawful discharge of a weapon . Prosecutors sought the death penalty . He was held in the Pulaski County Detention Center , awaiting a scheduled February 2011 jury trial . In January 2010 , Arkansas Judge Herbert Wright ordered the State ' s Public Defenders Commission to pay part of the bill for Muhammad ' s private attorney . That same month , in a two - page , handwritten letter to the judge in his case , Muhammad changed his plea to guilty . For the first time , he claimed to be a " soldier in Al - Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula " ( AQAP ) , and described the recruiting office shooting as a " Jihadi attack . " He said he was part of Abu Basir ' s Army , a reference to Naser Abdel - Karim al - Wahishi , the AQAP leader in Yemen . Muhammad affirmed that his sanity was intact , and that he was acting of his own volition in changing his plea . At the time the County Prosecutor Jegley said that he was still intending to go to trial ; he would have had to recommend that Muhammed ' s plea be accepted for the court to do so . He said he was not going to have the defendant determine the course of the trial . Muhammad wrote at the time , “ I wasn ’ t insane or post - traumatic , nor was I forced to do this Act . The attack was justified according to Islamic Laws and the Islamic Religion . " Jihad " — to fight those who wage war on Islam and Muslims . ” Muhammad did not discuss his change in plea with his lawyers ahead of time . Discussing his claim of affiliation with the Al - Qaeda group in Yemen led by al - Awlaki ( killed in September 2011 ) and al - Wahishi , he wrote in his letters of May to October 2010 : Far as Al - Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula . . . yes , I ' m affiliated with them . . . Our goal is to rid the Islamic world of idols and idolaters , paganism and pagans , infidelity and infidel s , hypocrisy and hypocrites , apostasy and apostates , democracy and democrats , and relaunch the Islamic caliphate … and to establish Islamic law ( Shari ' ah ) . Investigators have not independently confirmed his claim of AQAP affiliation . Muhammad ' s father Melvin Bledsoe said he doubted whether his son had any such ties . Bledsoe described his son as " unable to process reality " and being so " brainwashed " that he wanted to tie his act to the terrorist group so he could face execution and become a martyr . Charges and trial . The lead prosecutor for Pulaski County , Arkansas believed Muhammad acted alone , as did other law enforcement officials : " If you strip away what he says , self - serving or not , it ’ s just an awful killing , it ’ s like a lot of other killings we have . " They and his father Melvin Bledsoe said there was no evidence Muhammad was ever in contact with Anwar al - Awlaki . Other men , such as the Fort Hood shooter and Christmas Day bomber , had some communication with the late al - Qaeda imam in Yemen . Before their attacks they had formed radicalized views , but the Fort Hood shooter had other problems as well . The Army has classified the Fort Hood shooting as workplace violence . In June 2010 , Muhammad was charged with assaulting an inmate with a weapon fashioned out of eyeglasses , after a similar attack on a jail officer in April . Both the prosecutor and Muhammad ' s lawyers wanted to go to trial , which finally started in 2011 . His lawyers defended him on the grounds that he suffered " a delusional disorder . " During the trial , Muhammad changed his plea to guilty and the prosecutor accepted it . On July 25 , 2011 , the judge sentenced Muhammed to life in prison . Significance . The suspect was noted in early press accounts as among recent Muslim converts planning or carrying out violent attacks that security experts called a disturbing new domestic trend . The attack came less than two weeks after a foiled bomb plot on two synagogues in Riverdale , New York , led by four men with records of incarceration , drug abuse and mental illness . Although the four men were originally identified by some sources as having converted to Islam in prison or shortly after their incarcerations , the " New York Times " reported that their religious affiliation was uncertain , and they had never served together in prison . Two had registered as Baptist and one as Catholic in earlier prison terms ; one said he had converted to Islam and another listed no religion . They had no ties to any international terrorist organization . " The New York Times " noted of Muhammad ' s alleged ties to Al - Qaeda , " If evidence emerges that his claim is true , it will give the June 1 , 2009 , shooting in Little Rock new significance at a time when Yemen is being more closely scrutinized as a source of terrorist plots against the United States . " No additional evidence at trial has confirmed Muhammed ' s claims and he was not charged with terrorism . As noted above , his father doubted his claims of affiliation . Some terrorism experts thought there was a connection in Muhammed ' s case to other homegrown terror plots in recent years , including targets , ideological motives and religious inspiration . Other experts believe the stated ideological or religious reasons may simply be a cover for personal problem .