Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23, aka Carlos Bledsoe, told police that he shot two U.S. Army privates with the intent to kill them Monday because he was a practicing Muslim, and he was angered by what the American military had done to Muslims in the past. He also told officers that if more soldiers been on the parking lot with the victims, he would have shot them too.

Private William Long, 23, died from his injuries on arrival at a Little Rock hospital. Private Second Class Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, was taken directly to surgery after arriving at the hospital. Officials say he is expected to recover from his gunshot wounds.

Because of conflicting reports in the immediate wake of the shootings, there has been some confusion about the status of the two Army privates shot by Muhammed. They were not recruiters, but rather fresh out of basic training. ArkansasMatters.com reports:

Lt. Col. Thomas F. Artis, Commander of the Oklahoma recruiting battalion, which has command over the Little Rock recruiting station, says the soldiers were enlisted men, not officers, and that they did not work as recruiters. Lt. Col. Artis says they were part of a recruiting program called “hometown recruiting assistance.”

He says recruiters use these soldiers to tell their stories to talk to potential recruits, and that it is a volunteer position they do while they are visiting or based back in their home region.

According to officials, Muhammad said that he had never met either of the two enlisted men he shot Monday:

He told police that he put three weapons, including an assault rifle, into his SUV and then drove around until he saw the Recruiting Station and the two soldiers smoking outside the building.

He then pulled into the parking lot in front of the station, stopped his vehicle, and began shooting at the soldiers standing outside, firing several rounds from an SKS assault rifle with the intent of killing them.

ABC News is now reporting that Muhammad had ties to a number of global locations linked to extremists, including Yemen, Somalia and Columbus, Ohio:

Yemen and Somali are known hotbeds for terrorism. Columbus, Ohio, has been an area of domestic concern for authorities who have observed a number of Somali Americans traveling from there to Somali (sic) to wage jihad.

Authorities say that the FBI and the CIA are working to trace Muhammad’s path to extremism, looking into all aspects of his life, including his friendships, educational records, travel within the U.S. and any contacts he may have had with extremists overseas.

Many leftist bloggers have given scant attention to this story. Those who mention it at all either give it just a passing sentence or express their annoyance that anyone would mention the shooting of the two Army privates and that of an abortion doctor Sunday in the same context.

Perhaps most of them have been too busy to notice, what with all their laboring to hang the blame for the murder of Dr. George Tiller on such high profile pro-lifers as Fox talker Bill O’Reilly. One particularly disgusting lefty blogged (gutter language alert) that “BILL O’REILLY DESERVES A BULLET…”  After figuring out how to release the Caps Lock key, said blogger followed with “Dick Cheney needs to meet the same fate as Dr. George Tiller.”

The left needs to look no farther than their own doorstep to see which side created a climate of hate. And their hero, the commander in chief, still has not acknowledged the terrorist attack on the two American soldiers, as my RedState.com colleagues have pointed out here, here and here.

Update: Little Rock radio station KARK is organizing a fundraiser for the family of Pvt. Long. The station’s contact information can be found here.

- JP