Incident Summary:
06/01/2009: An assailant opened fire on soldiers outside of a military recruiting station in the Santa Fe Heights suburb of Little Rock, Arkansas, United States. One soldier, identified as William Long, was killed and a second soldier, identified as Quinton Ezeagwula, was injured in the assault. This was one of two attacks carried out by the same assailant overnight. Upon his arrest Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad stated that he had intended to kill as many military personnel as possible. He denied any affilitation with known organizations but later recanted, claiming that he was a soldier for Al-Qa ida and that the attack on the military recruiting station was "a Jihadi attack." Muhammad had spent time in Yemen, returning four months before the attack; he stated that he had wanted to form his own terrorist cell upon return to the United States.
Overview
GTD ID:
200906010028
When:
2009-06-01
Country:
United States
Region:
North America
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Arkansas
City:
Little Rock
Location Details:
The incident occurred at a military recruiting station in a shopping center in Santa Fe Heights, a suburban neighborhood of Little Rock.
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Armed Assault |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Military |
Name of Entity |
United States military |
Specific Description |
William Long and Quinton I. Ezeagwula, soldiers who were outside of a military recruiting station |
Nationality of Target |
United States |
Additional Information
Hostages |
No |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
No |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Firearms |
Automatic Weapon |
Weapon Details |
An SKS semi-automatic rifle |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | Yes |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Additional Information |
The assailant's claim to be a soldier of Al-Qa ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has been questioned by authorities and AQAP has not claimed the attack or affiliation with the attacker. He has been found mentally competent and maintains his claim of membership in the organization. |
Who
Perpetrator Group Information
Group Name |
Claimed Responsibility |
Jihadi-inspired extremists |
Yes (Confirmed: Unknown; Mode: Personal claim) |
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
1 |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
1 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
1 Fatalities / 1 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
1 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
1 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
1 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
1 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
Chuck Bartels, "Police: Man charged in recruiter death hoped to 'kill as many people in the Army as he could'," Associated Press, June 2, 2009. |
James Dao and Steve Barnes, "Man claims terror ties in Little Rock shooting," The New York Times, January 22, 2010. |
"Man charged with killing soldier at Ark. recruiting office says he wanted to start terror cell," Associated Press, May 21, 2011. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties