News Item: : Pvt. William Long, U.S. Army
(Category: Murder)
Posted by Sheriff
Friday 22 January 2010 - 01:44:52
Pvt. William Long, 24 - of Conway, AR; shot and killed while participating in the "Hometown Recruiting" program
Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18 - of Jacksonville, AR; wounded during the attack
Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 24 - (formerly known as Carlos Bledsoe) a Little Rock, AR, resident and Muslim convert who police allege deliberately fired on a recruiting station 06/01/09
Little Rock, AR
A Tennessee man accused of killing a soldier outside a Little Rock, Ark., military recruiting station last year has asked a judge to change his plea to guilty, claiming for the first time that he is affiliated with a Yemen-based affiliate of Al Qaeda.
In a letter to the judge presiding over his case, the accused killer, Abdulhakim Muhammad, calls himself a soldier in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and calls the shooting “a Jihadi Attack” in retribution for the killing of Muslims by American troops.
“I wasn’t insane or post traumatic nor was I forced to do this Act,” Mr. Muhammad said in a two-page, hand-printed note in pencil. The attack, which he said did not go as planned, was “justified according to Islamic Laws and the Islamic Religion. Jihad — to fight those who wage war on Islam and Muslims.”
It remains unclear whether Mr. Muhammad really has ties to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which President Obama has said is behind the attempted Christmas Day bombing of an American plane by a Nigerian man.
But 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.
Mr. Muhammad, 24, a Muslim convert from Memphis, spent about 16 months in Yemen starting in the fall of 2007, ostensibly teaching English and learning Arabic. During that time, he married a woman from south Yemen. But he was also imprisoned for several months because he overstayed his visa and was holding a fraudulent Somali passport, the Yemen government said.
The Arkansas Public Defender Commission is asking a Pulaski County judge to reconsider his order that the commission pay for a murder defendant's defense. Judge Herb Wright has ordered the commission to pay "reasonable" costs for Abdulahkim Mujahid Muhammad's defense.
Commission director Didi Sallings says there is no legal authority for her to pay and that the commission can't afford it. Sallings has also told the judge she won't pay.
Muhammad is charged with capital murder and attempted capital murder in the June 7 shooting death of Army Pvt. William Long and wounding of Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula outside a Little Rock recruiting office. Defense attorney Claiborne Ferguson was hired by Muhammad's parents and has said he needs up to $30,000 to pay defense costs.
An Arkansas judge on Monday ordered the state’s Public Defenders Commission to pay some of the legal bills for a man who says he killed a soldier outside a military recruiting center in retaliation for U.S. military action in the Middle East.
Abdulhakim Muhammad testified he has no money to pay for experts or investigators who might help defend him against charges of capital murder and attempted murder in the June 1 attack outside the Army-Navy Career Center in a west Little Rock shopping center. Judge Herbert Wright said the state should pay part of the bill for Muhammad’s private attorney.
Muhammad could face the death penalty if convicted of capital murder.
Death penalty cases are extraordinarily expensive, and Muhammad can’t pay for expert witnesses, mental health examinations or other costs related to his defense, said his attorney, Claiborne Ferguson. Ferguson said he was hired by Muhammad’s family but because Muhammad himself can’t afford the cost of a defense, he should be entitled to funding from the public defender’s commission.
Didi Sallings, executive director of the Arkansas Public Defender Commission, said Wright was setting a ‘‘dangerous precedent’’ by allowing Muhammad to use state funds for his private defense.
Ferguson ‘‘is asking the state to subsidize his private practice,’’ Sallings said.
In ruling from the bench, Wright said the issue was whether Muhammad was indigent and unable to pay for legal representation.
‘‘As the Legislature defines indigent, I think Mr. Muhammad qualifies,’’ Wright said Monday after a short hearing in which Muhammad testified that he had no job, car or investments and he was making $1,200 a month when he was arrested. Muhammad has been jailed since the June 1 shootings.
The man accused of killing one soldier and wounding another outside a recruiting center in Little Rock is due in court for a pre-trial hearing. A hearing is scheduled Monday in Pulaski County Circuit Court in the case of Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad.
Muhammad faces capital murder and attempted capital murder charges in the June 1 shooting death of Pvt. William Long of Conway and the wounding of Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula of Jacksonville. The two were shot as they stood outside the Army-Navy Career Center in west Little Rock.
Muhammad has claimed the shootings were justified retaliation for U.S. military action in the Middle East. He told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that he does not believe he is guilty.
The attorney for a Memphis, Tenn., man charged with killing a soldier at a Little Rock recruiting office wants up to $30,000 from the state for the defense. Attorney Claiborne Ferguson is asking a judge to order the Arkansas Public Defender Commission to pay for expert witnesses and investigators.
Ferguson represents Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad on capital murder and attempted capital murder charges in the June 1 shooting death of Pvt. William Long of Conway and Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula of Jacksonville. The two were shot as they stood outside the Army-Navy Career Center in west Little Rock.
Attorneys for the man charged with capital murder of an Army soldier at a Little Rock recruiting station are asking for a delay in the start of his trial. Lawyers for 24-year-old Abdulhakim Muhammad say in a motion filed last week that they need more time to go through evidence in the case. The current trial date is Feb. 15.
Muhammad was born Carlos Bledsoe. He’s charged in the June shooting death of 23-year-old Pvt. William Long of Conway and in the wounding of another private as they stood outside the Army recruiting office. Muhammad has pleaded not guilty. He told The Associated Press in a telephone interview in June that he considered the shooting justified.
Pulaski County prosecutors said Friday that they'll seek the death penalty for the Memphis man who claims that a June 1 drive-by slaying of one soldier and the wounding of a second was justified because of American military practices in the Middle East.
Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad entered an innocent plea during his first Pulaski County Circuit Court appearance to charges of capital murder, attempted capital murder and 10 counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm. Circuit Judge Herbert Wright Jr. scheduled a Jan. 11 pretrial hearing with trial to begin Feb. 15.
Muhammad, who gave two jailhouse interviews about the shootings before a judge curtailed his phone access, didn't speak at Friday's hearing, which lasted about four minutes.
The judge opened the proceeding by asking Muhammad's new attorney, Claiborne Ferguson, whether the defense would be seeking a mental evaluation.
"At this point, no," the Memphis attorney responded.
Ferguson isn't licensed to practice law in Arkansas but is filing the necessary paperwork to get the judge's approval to represent Muhammad. Ferguson has said he also plans to apply for an Arkansas law license. Ferguson replaced Jim Hensley of North Little Rock as Muhammad's attorney.
Chief deputy prosecutor John Johnson, with Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley, told the judge that the trial would likely last a week, saying the case against Muhammad, formerly known as Carlos Leon Bledsoe, is clear cut.
"The facts are not that involved," Johnson told the judge.
Army Pvt. William Long, 23, of Conway was killed and a fellow private, 18-year-old Quinton Ezeagwula of Jacksonville, injured in a hail of gunfire from a black sport utility vehicle as they took a cigarette break outside the Army-Navy Career Center in west Little Rock on June 1.
Location
Prosecutors say they'll seek the death penalty against a man accused of killing a soldier
outside of an Arkansas Army recruiting center.
Abdulhakim Muhammad pleaded not guilty to charges that he shot and killed Pvt. William Andrew Long at a court hearing Friday in Pulaski County. The judge set a trial date of Feb. 15.
Muhammad's lawyer says his client is in good spirits but wouldn't say whether his calls to the media claiming responsibility for the death would affect his case.
Muhammad has called the AP twice to discuss the June 1 shooting that also wounded another soldier. In those conversations, Muhammad says he didn't consider the killing a murder because U.S. military action in the Mideast justified it.
A man appearing in an Little Rock courtroom Friday on charges he killed an Army recruiter lived previously in Ohio.
Records also show that Abdulhakim Muhammad had renewed his Ohio driver's license as recently as February.
Muhammad could be sentenced to death if convicted in the June 1st death of Pvt. William Long outside a military recruiting station in Little Rock.
Muhammad lived with a roommate in an apartment complex on the northeast side of Columbus sometime before 2007. Property manager Inez Leyba says she confirmed information about Muhammad to the FBI (web) last month.
The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles says Muhammad reinstated his Ohio driver's license in February after paying off a ticket he received while in Tennessee.
Prosecutors have filed a capital murder charge against a man who confessed to killing one soldier and wounding another outside an Army recruiting center in Little Rock.
Abdulhakim Muhammad, 24, is also charged with attempted capital murder and 10 counts of firing a gun from a vehicle.
Muhammad is accused of fatally shooting Pvt. William Long, 23, of Conway and wounding Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula of Jacksonville. Both had just finished basic training and were outside the recruiting center June 1 when Muhammad drove up, opened fire and sped away. He was arrested a short time later.
Formal charges were entered Tuesday, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
Prosecutor Larry Jegley said Wednesday that his office may pursue the death penalty.
Federal prosecutors have also explored filing charges against Muhammad.
Officers said Muhammad told them he intended to kill as many U.S. soldiers as he could. Muhammad, a Muslim convert, told The Associated Press in two phone interviews from jail last month that he didn’t view Long’s slaying as murder given U.S. military action against Muslims.
With the formal charges, Muhammad’s case moves to circuit court, where Judge Herbert T. Wright Jr. will preside. Wright’s office said Wednesday that it had not yet received enough information to schedule Muhammad’s arraignment.
June 8, 2009
Little Rock Recruiting Shooter: Judge Issues Gag Order, FBI Encountered Suspect in Yemen
A gag order has been issued in the case against Abdulhakim Muhammad, the man accused shooting two U.S. Army soldiers, killing one, in front of a recruiting station in Little Rock, Ark., last week.
A suspect is in custody amid reports of homegrown terrorism.
District Court Judge Alice Lightle ordered "all parties, police, prosecutors, defense attorneys and their personnel… to refrain from public comment," in matters relating to this case.
Prosecutor Larry Jegley filed a motion for the gag order early Monday morning. The motion states that many "statements have been made in recent days, some attributed and some not." Such statements, the motion says, "could adversely impact" the defendant's right to a fair trial.
The suspect in the deadly shooting at a military recruiting center in Arkansas last week, Abdulhakim Muhammad, is the latest in a series of Muslim converts who stand accused of planning or launching violent attacks in the U.S.
His given name was Carlos Bledsoe. He was 23, grew up in Tennessee and converted to Islam in high school. He traveled to Yemen in 2007, and FBI agents first encountered him in a Yemeni prison about a year later. Officials close to the investigation say what they learned about him alarmed them.
The young American claimed to be in Yemen to study religion, but he was linked to a school there that was well-known for its terrorist ties. He had a fake Somali passport, though he was carrying a perfectly valid American one.
Agents were concerned the Somali passport was a way for Muhammad to travel to places he didn't want U.S. authorities to know about — so when he returned to the U.S. his American passport wouldn't have stamps and visas from countries that bring suspicion.
June 4, 2009
Attorney for Islamic Convert Who Attacked Recruiting Station Speaks
Outlining a preliminary defense for the man accused of killing an American soldier and wounding another in Little Rock, Ark., the lawyer for the suspect said Thursday that his client was radicalized by Islamic fundamentalists in a Yemeni prison where he spent four months last year for overstaying his visa.
The lawyer, James E. Hensley Jr., asserted that the United States government had done nothing to free the man, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23, until his family, with the assistance of a Tennessee state legislator, intervened.
Mr. Hensley said an F.B.I. agent visited Mr. Muhammad in prison in Yemen, but only to tell him that the American government was watching him. “If you ever get out of this godforsaken place, we’ll hound you till the day you die,” Mr. Hensley asserted the agent said.
Mr. Muhammad, also known as Carlos Bledsoe, has been charged with killing Pvt. William Long and wounding Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula as they stood outside an Army recruiting station in Little Rock on Monday. Private Ezeagwula was released from the hospital on Thursday.
The police confiscated three weapons from Mr. Muhammad, or from his truck, shortly after the shooting, including a military-style rifle and a semiautomatic handgun.
The Little Rock police say that Mr. Muhammad has acknowledged shooting the two men, saying he was a Muslim angry about the killing of Muslims by American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has pleaded not guilty.
Mr. Hensley’s assertions, many of which conflicted with statements from law enforcement officials, could not be confirmed.
Officials have said Mr. Muhammad was detained in Yemen because he carried forged Somali documents, including a passport, but Mr. Hensley said that that was not true and that Mr. Muhammad had said he was never in Somalia.
Press officers for the F.B.I. and the State Department said they could not comment on Mr. Hensley’s statements.
Mr. Hensley said Mr. Muhammad was in Yemen to teach English at a camp for Afghan refugees, a position he said Mr. Muhammad got through a college exchange program in Nashville. While there, he married a Yemeni woman, whose name the lawyer did not know. Mr. Muhammad also met children who had lost limbs in the war and women who asserted that they had been raped by American troops.
The father of a soldier killed outside a suburban Little Rock recruiting center says the family had moved to Arkansas for peace and quiet after long military careers.
Daris Long had served in the Marines and his wife had been in the Navy. Long tells The Associated Press that their son, William Long, made his own choice to enter the military, rather than feeling pressure to carry on a family legacy.
Pvt. William Long was shot dead Monday. A Muslim convert, Abdulhakim Muhammad, faces a murder charge in the attack, which left another soldier wounded. Muhammad has pleaded not guilty.
Long's funeral has been set for Monday. He will be buried at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery.
A Muslim convert accused of killing a soldier outside a recruiting center may have been considering other targets including Jewish and Christian sites — and had the firepower to carry out more attacks, according to law enforcement officials.
A joint FBI-Homeland Security intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press said officers found maps to Jewish organizations, a child care center, a Baptist church, a post office and military recruiting centers in the southeastern U.S. and New York and Philadelphia.
"Out of an abundance of caution, and in light of newly discovered information, the FBI cannot rule out additional subjects, targets, or the potential for inspired copycats who might act out in support of the original act," the intelligence assessment said.
Abdulhakim Muhammad, 23, of Little Rock, had targeted soldiers "because of what they had done to Muslims in the past," authorities said, saying he had said he wanted to "kill as many people in the Army as he could."
Muhammad was charged in state court Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to the shooting in a suburban Little Rock shopping center. FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said Wednesday that the bureau is also investigating, "which may result in additional federal charges and prosecution."
June 1, 2009
Attack on Recruiting Station Kills One, Wounds Another
An Arkansas man was arrested Monday in connection with a shooting at a Little Rock military recruiting center that killed one soldier and wounded another, authorities said.
Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad -- a 24-year-old Little Rock resident formerly known as Carlos Bledsoe -- faces a first-degree murder charge and 15 counts of engaging in a terrorist act, Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas said. The terrorist counts stem from the shots fired at an occupied building.
While authorities continued to investigate a motive, Thomas said Muhammad is a Muslim convert and, based on preliminary interviews with him, investigators believe there were "political and religious motives" in the shooting.
Military officials initially believed the shooting was a random act, but Thomas said police believe the shooter acted alone "with the specific purpose of targeting military personnel."
The soldier who was killed was identified as Pvt. William Long, 24, of Conway, and the wounded soldier is Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville, Thomas said.
Ezeagwula is in stable condition and expected to recover, the police chief said.
"I'm relieved there's a suspect in custody," said Capt. Matthew Feehan, commander of the center.
Feehan said seven other recruiters were in the building, but nobody else was injured.
Thomas said police recovered three guns from Muhammad's black Ford SUV: an SKS semi-automatic rifle, a .22-caliber rifle and a pistol.
The victims were just out of basic training and had not been deployed, said Lt. Col. Thomas F. Artis, commander of the Oklahoma recruiting battalion that oversees the Little Rock recruiting center.
Melvin Bledsoe of Memphis, Tennesee , who was listed on the police report as Muhammad's father, declined to comment, referring questions to Little Rock Police.
This news item is from Crime News 2000
( http://www.crimenews2000.com/news.php?extend.1007 )
(Category: Murder)
Posted by Sheriff
Friday 22 January 2010 - 01:44:52
Pvt. William Long, 24 - of Conway, AR; shot and killed while participating in the "Hometown Recruiting" program
Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18 - of Jacksonville, AR; wounded during the attack
Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 24 - (formerly known as Carlos Bledsoe) a Little Rock, AR, resident and Muslim convert who police allege deliberately fired on a recruiting station 06/01/09
Little Rock, AR
A Tennessee man accused of killing a soldier outside a Little Rock, Ark., military recruiting station last year has asked a judge to change his plea to guilty, claiming for the first time that he is affiliated with a Yemen-based affiliate of Al Qaeda.
In a letter to the judge presiding over his case, the accused killer, Abdulhakim Muhammad, calls himself a soldier in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and calls the shooting “a Jihadi Attack” in retribution for the killing of Muslims by American troops.
“I wasn’t insane or post traumatic nor was I forced to do this Act,” Mr. Muhammad said in a two-page, hand-printed note in pencil. The attack, which he said did not go as planned, was “justified according to Islamic Laws and the Islamic Religion. Jihad — to fight those who wage war on Islam and Muslims.”
It remains unclear whether Mr. Muhammad really has ties to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which President Obama has said is behind the attempted Christmas Day bombing of an American plane by a Nigerian man.
But 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.
Mr. Muhammad, 24, a Muslim convert from Memphis, spent about 16 months in Yemen starting in the fall of 2007, ostensibly teaching English and learning Arabic. During that time, he married a woman from south Yemen. But he was also imprisoned for several months because he overstayed his visa and was holding a fraudulent Somali passport, the Yemen government said.
The Arkansas Public Defender Commission is asking a Pulaski County judge to reconsider his order that the commission pay for a murder defendant's defense. Judge Herb Wright has ordered the commission to pay "reasonable" costs for Abdulahkim Mujahid Muhammad's defense.
Commission director Didi Sallings says there is no legal authority for her to pay and that the commission can't afford it. Sallings has also told the judge she won't pay.
Muhammad is charged with capital murder and attempted capital murder in the June 7 shooting death of Army Pvt. William Long and wounding of Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula outside a Little Rock recruiting office. Defense attorney Claiborne Ferguson was hired by Muhammad's parents and has said he needs up to $30,000 to pay defense costs.
An Arkansas judge on Monday ordered the state’s Public Defenders Commission to pay some of the legal bills for a man who says he killed a soldier outside a military recruiting center in retaliation for U.S. military action in the Middle East.
Abdulhakim Muhammad testified he has no money to pay for experts or investigators who might help defend him against charges of capital murder and attempted murder in the June 1 attack outside the Army-Navy Career Center in a west Little Rock shopping center. Judge Herbert Wright said the state should pay part of the bill for Muhammad’s private attorney.
Muhammad could face the death penalty if convicted of capital murder.
Death penalty cases are extraordinarily expensive, and Muhammad can’t pay for expert witnesses, mental health examinations or other costs related to his defense, said his attorney, Claiborne Ferguson. Ferguson said he was hired by Muhammad’s family but because Muhammad himself can’t afford the cost of a defense, he should be entitled to funding from the public defender’s commission.
Didi Sallings, executive director of the Arkansas Public Defender Commission, said Wright was setting a ‘‘dangerous precedent’’ by allowing Muhammad to use state funds for his private defense.
Ferguson ‘‘is asking the state to subsidize his private practice,’’ Sallings said.
In ruling from the bench, Wright said the issue was whether Muhammad was indigent and unable to pay for legal representation.
‘‘As the Legislature defines indigent, I think Mr. Muhammad qualifies,’’ Wright said Monday after a short hearing in which Muhammad testified that he had no job, car or investments and he was making $1,200 a month when he was arrested. Muhammad has been jailed since the June 1 shootings.
The man accused of killing one soldier and wounding another outside a recruiting center in Little Rock is due in court for a pre-trial hearing. A hearing is scheduled Monday in Pulaski County Circuit Court in the case of Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad.
Muhammad faces capital murder and attempted capital murder charges in the June 1 shooting death of Pvt. William Long of Conway and the wounding of Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula of Jacksonville. The two were shot as they stood outside the Army-Navy Career Center in west Little Rock.
Muhammad has claimed the shootings were justified retaliation for U.S. military action in the Middle East. He told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that he does not believe he is guilty.
The attorney for a Memphis, Tenn., man charged with killing a soldier at a Little Rock recruiting office wants up to $30,000 from the state for the defense. Attorney Claiborne Ferguson is asking a judge to order the Arkansas Public Defender Commission to pay for expert witnesses and investigators.
Ferguson represents Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad on capital murder and attempted capital murder charges in the June 1 shooting death of Pvt. William Long of Conway and Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula of Jacksonville. The two were shot as they stood outside the Army-Navy Career Center in west Little Rock.
Attorneys for the man charged with capital murder of an Army soldier at a Little Rock recruiting station are asking for a delay in the start of his trial. Lawyers for 24-year-old Abdulhakim Muhammad say in a motion filed last week that they need more time to go through evidence in the case. The current trial date is Feb. 15.
Muhammad was born Carlos Bledsoe. He’s charged in the June shooting death of 23-year-old Pvt. William Long of Conway and in the wounding of another private as they stood outside the Army recruiting office. Muhammad has pleaded not guilty. He told The Associated Press in a telephone interview in June that he considered the shooting justified.
Man held in LR recruiting-site case facing death penalty; Feb. 15 trial set
Arkansas Democrat Gazette - 08/01/09
Arkansas Democrat Gazette - 08/01/09
Pulaski County prosecutors said Friday that they'll seek the death penalty for the Memphis man who claims that a June 1 drive-by slaying of one soldier and the wounding of a second was justified because of American military practices in the Middle East.
Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad entered an innocent plea during his first Pulaski County Circuit Court appearance to charges of capital murder, attempted capital murder and 10 counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm. Circuit Judge Herbert Wright Jr. scheduled a Jan. 11 pretrial hearing with trial to begin Feb. 15.
Muhammad, who gave two jailhouse interviews about the shootings before a judge curtailed his phone access, didn't speak at Friday's hearing, which lasted about four minutes.
The judge opened the proceeding by asking Muhammad's new attorney, Claiborne Ferguson, whether the defense would be seeking a mental evaluation.
"At this point, no," the Memphis attorney responded.
Ferguson isn't licensed to practice law in Arkansas but is filing the necessary paperwork to get the judge's approval to represent Muhammad. Ferguson has said he also plans to apply for an Arkansas law license. Ferguson replaced Jim Hensley of North Little Rock as Muhammad's attorney.
Chief deputy prosecutor John Johnson, with Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley, told the judge that the trial would likely last a week, saying the case against Muhammad, formerly known as Carlos Leon Bledsoe, is clear cut.
"The facts are not that involved," Johnson told the judge.
Army Pvt. William Long, 23, of Conway was killed and a fellow private, 18-year-old Quinton Ezeagwula of Jacksonville, injured in a hail of gunfire from a black sport utility vehicle as they took a cigarette break outside the Army-Navy Career Center in west Little Rock on June 1.
Location
Prosecutors say they'll seek the death penalty against a man accused of killing a soldier
outside of an Arkansas Army recruiting center.
Abdulhakim Muhammad pleaded not guilty to charges that he shot and killed Pvt. William Andrew Long at a court hearing Friday in Pulaski County. The judge set a trial date of Feb. 15.
Muhammad's lawyer says his client is in good spirits but wouldn't say whether his calls to the media claiming responsibility for the death would affect his case.
Muhammad has called the AP twice to discuss the June 1 shooting that also wounded another soldier. In those conversations, Muhammad says he didn't consider the killing a murder because U.S. military action in the Mideast justified it.
A man appearing in an Little Rock courtroom Friday on charges he killed an Army recruiter lived previously in Ohio.
Records also show that Abdulhakim Muhammad had renewed his Ohio driver's license as recently as February.
Muhammad could be sentenced to death if convicted in the June 1st death of Pvt. William Long outside a military recruiting station in Little Rock.
Muhammad lived with a roommate in an apartment complex on the northeast side of Columbus sometime before 2007. Property manager Inez Leyba says she confirmed information about Muhammad to the FBI (web) last month.
The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles says Muhammad reinstated his Ohio driver's license in February after paying off a ticket he received while in Tennessee.
Prosecutors have filed a capital murder charge against a man who confessed to killing one soldier and wounding another outside an Army recruiting center in Little Rock.
Abdulhakim Muhammad, 24, is also charged with attempted capital murder and 10 counts of firing a gun from a vehicle.
Muhammad is accused of fatally shooting Pvt. William Long, 23, of Conway and wounding Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula of Jacksonville. Both had just finished basic training and were outside the recruiting center June 1 when Muhammad drove up, opened fire and sped away. He was arrested a short time later.
Formal charges were entered Tuesday, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
Prosecutor Larry Jegley said Wednesday that his office may pursue the death penalty.
Federal prosecutors have also explored filing charges against Muhammad.
Officers said Muhammad told them he intended to kill as many U.S. soldiers as he could. Muhammad, a Muslim convert, told The Associated Press in two phone interviews from jail last month that he didn’t view Long’s slaying as murder given U.S. military action against Muslims.
With the formal charges, Muhammad’s case moves to circuit court, where Judge Herbert T. Wright Jr. will preside. Wright’s office said Wednesday that it had not yet received enough information to schedule Muhammad’s arraignment.
June 8, 2009
Little Rock Recruiting Shooter: Judge Issues Gag Order, FBI Encountered Suspect in Yemen
Judge Issues Gag Order in Little Rock Recruiter Shooting Case
ABC News - 06/08/09
ABC News - 06/08/09
A gag order has been issued in the case against Abdulhakim Muhammad, the man accused shooting two U.S. Army soldiers, killing one, in front of a recruiting station in Little Rock, Ark., last week.
A suspect is in custody amid reports of homegrown terrorism.
District Court Judge Alice Lightle ordered "all parties, police, prosecutors, defense attorneys and their personnel… to refrain from public comment," in matters relating to this case.
Prosecutor Larry Jegley filed a motion for the gag order early Monday morning. The motion states that many "statements have been made in recent days, some attributed and some not." Such statements, the motion says, "could adversely impact" the defendant's right to a fair trial.
FBI Encountered Accused Ark. Shooter In Yemen
NPR - 06/08/09
NPR - 06/08/09
The suspect in the deadly shooting at a military recruiting center in Arkansas last week, Abdulhakim Muhammad, is the latest in a series of Muslim converts who stand accused of planning or launching violent attacks in the U.S.
His given name was Carlos Bledsoe. He was 23, grew up in Tennessee and converted to Islam in high school. He traveled to Yemen in 2007, and FBI agents first encountered him in a Yemeni prison about a year later. Officials close to the investigation say what they learned about him alarmed them.
The young American claimed to be in Yemen to study religion, but he was linked to a school there that was well-known for its terrorist ties. He had a fake Somali passport, though he was carrying a perfectly valid American one.
Agents were concerned the Somali passport was a way for Muhammad to travel to places he didn't want U.S. authorities to know about — so when he returned to the U.S. his American passport wouldn't have stamps and visas from countries that bring suspicion.
June 4, 2009
Attorney for Islamic Convert Who Attacked Recruiting Station Speaks
Suspect’s Lawyer Outlines Defense in Killing of Soldier
New York Times - 06/04/09
New York Times - 06/04/09
Outlining a preliminary defense for the man accused of killing an American soldier and wounding another in Little Rock, Ark., the lawyer for the suspect said Thursday that his client was radicalized by Islamic fundamentalists in a Yemeni prison where he spent four months last year for overstaying his visa.
The lawyer, James E. Hensley Jr., asserted that the United States government had done nothing to free the man, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23, until his family, with the assistance of a Tennessee state legislator, intervened.
Mr. Hensley said an F.B.I. agent visited Mr. Muhammad in prison in Yemen, but only to tell him that the American government was watching him. “If you ever get out of this godforsaken place, we’ll hound you till the day you die,” Mr. Hensley asserted the agent said.
Mr. Muhammad, also known as Carlos Bledsoe, has been charged with killing Pvt. William Long and wounding Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula as they stood outside an Army recruiting station in Little Rock on Monday. Private Ezeagwula was released from the hospital on Thursday.
The police confiscated three weapons from Mr. Muhammad, or from his truck, shortly after the shooting, including a military-style rifle and a semiautomatic handgun.
The Little Rock police say that Mr. Muhammad has acknowledged shooting the two men, saying he was a Muslim angry about the killing of Muslims by American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has pleaded not guilty.
Mr. Hensley’s assertions, many of which conflicted with statements from law enforcement officials, could not be confirmed.
Officials have said Mr. Muhammad was detained in Yemen because he carried forged Somali documents, including a passport, but Mr. Hensley said that that was not true and that Mr. Muhammad had said he was never in Somalia.
Press officers for the F.B.I. and the State Department said they could not comment on Mr. Hensley’s statements.
Mr. Hensley said Mr. Muhammad was in Yemen to teach English at a camp for Afghan refugees, a position he said Mr. Muhammad got through a college exchange program in Nashville. While there, he married a Yemeni woman, whose name the lawyer did not know. Mr. Muhammad also met children who had lost limbs in the war and women who asserted that they had been raped by American troops.
Dead soldier's family sought quiet in Arkansas
Associated Press - 06/04/09
Associated Press - 06/04/09
The father of a soldier killed outside a suburban Little Rock recruiting center says the family had moved to Arkansas for peace and quiet after long military careers.
Daris Long had served in the Marines and his wife had been in the Navy. Long tells The Associated Press that their son, William Long, made his own choice to enter the military, rather than feeling pressure to carry on a family legacy.
Pvt. William Long was shot dead Monday. A Muslim convert, Abdulhakim Muhammad, faces a murder charge in the attack, which left another soldier wounded. Muhammad has pleaded not guilty.
Long's funeral has been set for Monday. He will be buried at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery.
A Muslim convert accused of killing a soldier outside a recruiting center may have been considering other targets including Jewish and Christian sites — and had the firepower to carry out more attacks, according to law enforcement officials.
A joint FBI-Homeland Security intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press said officers found maps to Jewish organizations, a child care center, a Baptist church, a post office and military recruiting centers in the southeastern U.S. and New York and Philadelphia.
"Out of an abundance of caution, and in light of newly discovered information, the FBI cannot rule out additional subjects, targets, or the potential for inspired copycats who might act out in support of the original act," the intelligence assessment said.
Abdulhakim Muhammad, 23, of Little Rock, had targeted soldiers "because of what they had done to Muslims in the past," authorities said, saying he had said he wanted to "kill as many people in the Army as he could."
Muhammad was charged in state court Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to the shooting in a suburban Little Rock shopping center. FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said Wednesday that the bureau is also investigating, "which may result in additional federal charges and prosecution."
June 1, 2009
Attack on Recruiting Station Kills One, Wounds Another
Suspect arrested in Arkansas recruiting center shooting
CNN - 06/01/09
CNN - 06/01/09
An Arkansas man was arrested Monday in connection with a shooting at a Little Rock military recruiting center that killed one soldier and wounded another, authorities said.
Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad -- a 24-year-old Little Rock resident formerly known as Carlos Bledsoe -- faces a first-degree murder charge and 15 counts of engaging in a terrorist act, Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas said. The terrorist counts stem from the shots fired at an occupied building.
While authorities continued to investigate a motive, Thomas said Muhammad is a Muslim convert and, based on preliminary interviews with him, investigators believe there were "political and religious motives" in the shooting.
Military officials initially believed the shooting was a random act, but Thomas said police believe the shooter acted alone "with the specific purpose of targeting military personnel."
The soldier who was killed was identified as Pvt. William Long, 24, of Conway, and the wounded soldier is Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville, Thomas said.
Ezeagwula is in stable condition and expected to recover, the police chief said.
"I'm relieved there's a suspect in custody," said Capt. Matthew Feehan, commander of the center.
Feehan said seven other recruiters were in the building, but nobody else was injured.
Thomas said police recovered three guns from Muhammad's black Ford SUV: an SKS semi-automatic rifle, a .22-caliber rifle and a pistol.
The victims were just out of basic training and had not been deployed, said Lt. Col. Thomas F. Artis, commander of the Oklahoma recruiting battalion that oversees the Little Rock recruiting center.
Melvin Bledsoe of Memphis, Tennesee , who was listed on the police report as Muhammad's father, declined to comment, referring questions to Little Rock Police.
This news item is from Crime News 2000
( http://www.crimenews2000.com/news.php?extend.1007 )