By William M. Welch, USA TODAY
A Muslim convert who said he was against the U.S. military pleaded not guilty Tuesday to capital murder in connection with the shooting of two soldiers outside an Arkansas recruiting center.
One soldier died in the attack Monday, police said.
Abdul Hakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23, was ordered held without bail at a hearing Tuesday in Little Rock. He is charged in the death of Pvt. William Long, 23, of Conway, outside the Army Navy Career Center in Little Rock.
"This individual appears to have been upset with the military, the Army in particular, and that's why he did what he did," Little Rock Police Lt. Terry Hastings said.
"He has converted to (Islam) here in the past few years," Hastings said. "We're not completely clear on what he was upset about. He had never been in the military.
"He saw them standing there and drove up and shot them. That's what he said."
Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville was wounded in the shooting and in stable condition, Police Chief Stuart Thomas said.
The suspect, who is from Little Rock, was previously known as Carlos Bledsoe, Thomas said.
The soldiers wore fatigues, had recently completed basic training and volunteered to help attract others to the military, Thomas said.
He said the gunman targeted the military but was not believed to be part of a broader scheme.
Interviews with police showed that Muhammad "probably had political and religious motives for the attack," the police chief said.
Thomas said Muhammad would be charged with first-degree murder, plus 15 counts of committing a terroristic act. He said those counts result from the gunfire occurring near other people.
Hastings said the attacker pulled up in a car outside the Army-Navy recruiting office around 10:30 a.m. and fired at the soldiers outside.
According to the Associated Press, the vehicle was stopped on Interstate 630 a short time later, and the suspect was taken into custody. Police found an assault rifle in the vehicle.
Jim Richardson, the manager at a drug store around the corner from the Army-Navy center, said people at the store didn't realize anything was amiss until they heard sirens outside.
"Nobody heard any gunshots," Richardson said.
Lt. Col. Thomas Artis of the Oklahoma City Recruiting Battalion, which oversees the Little Rock office, said the victims were not regular recruiters. He said they were serving two weeks in the Little Rock office.
As part of the Hometown Recruiting Assistance Program, the soldiers were sent to "talk to friends, folks in the local area. They can show the example, 'Here's where I was, and here is where I am,' " Artis said.
Artis said neither of the soldiers had been deployed for combat.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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