Jihadist Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad received a life prison sentence Monday afternoon after pleading guilty to shooting two soldiers, one fatally, outside a Little Rock, Ark. Army recruiting center in June 2009. Muhammad never disputed killing Army Pvt. William Long as part of "a jihadi attack on infidel forces."
But his lawyers took the case to trial and tried to argue that Muhammad was suffering from a delusional disorder. He could have received the death penalty. But his trial was recessed Monday morning and Muhammad changed his plea to guilty.
Muhammad - formerly known as Carlos Bledsoe – converted from Baptist to Islam after enrolling at Tennessee State University in Nashville in the fall of 2003. He dropped out of school after three semesters and went to Yemen - ostensibly to teach English – in 2007. Muhammad became radicalized there and was deported back to the United States against his wishes in January 2009.
In the days before he attacked Long and Army Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, Muhammad attempted to attack an Army recruiting center in Kentucky, which he found closed, and attempted to firebomb what he thought was a Nashville rabbi's home.