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Army Recruiter Is Fatally Shot
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A United States Army soldier was shot to death and a second soldier seriously
wounded outside a military recruiting station here by a man who opened fire from a vehicle Monday
morning, the police and Army officials said.
A suspect in the shooting was arrested minutes later a short distance from the recruiting station,
which is in a bustling suburban shopping center, by officers relying on a description of the vehicle,
a black sport utility vehicle, provided by several witnesses. An assault weapon was taken from the
S.U.V., a police spokesman said.
“He fired off several rounds,” a Little Rock police spokesman, Lt. Terry Hastings, said. “We have no
idea of a motive.” “We are only now beginning to question him, “Lieutenant Hastings said of the
suspect.
The dead man was identified by the Pulaski County coroner’s office as William Long, 23, of Conway,
Ark. The wounded soldier, identified by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as Quenton Ezeagwula, was
being treated at Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock, a hospital spokesperson said.
The shooting occurred at 10:19, outside an Army recruiting station at the Ashley Square Shopping
Center on the city’s affluent west side. The shopping center, at the intersection of Reservoir and
Rodney Parham Roads, is not far from the Breckenridge and Colony West subdivisions, and also
contains a pharmacy, delicatessen and restaurant.
Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the Army recruiting command at Fort Knox, Ky., said the soldiers
were participants in what is known as a hometown recruiter assistance program, and had returned
to Little Rock, their hometown, to talk up the Army experience with friends, relatives and former
neighbors. Although he did not have details about the victims, Mr. Smith said participants in the
program tend to be new soldiers recently out of basic training.
An eyewitness, Lance Luplow, told KATV he heard six or seven shots while he was in his front yard
across the street from the crime scene, and looked up to see the black vehicle pulling away and two
soldiers in military fatigues wounded. He ran to over the scene, he said, adding that the windows of
the vehicle were tinted, so he could not identify the driver.
One of the soldiers, shot in the buttocks and behind the ear, crawled into the recruiting office muttering,
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Mr. Luplow recounted. He said recruiters and soldiers from inside
the station immediately tried to stop the bleeding and apply CPR to the victims. “They were definitely
targeted,” Mr. Luplow said of the soldiers, noting that the truck seemed to stop briefly in front of the
office when the shots were fired and then sped off afterward.
A broad section of the shopping center’s parking lot was still cordoned by yellow police tape three hours
after the shooting, as police technicians scoured the scene looking for fingerprints and taking measurements.
Steve Barnes reported from Little Rock, and James Dao from New York.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A United States Army soldier was shot to death and a second soldier seriously
wounded outside a military recruiting station here by a man who opened fire from a vehicle Monday
morning, the police and Army officials said.
A suspect in the shooting was arrested minutes later a short distance from the recruiting station,
which is in a bustling suburban shopping center, by officers relying on a description of the vehicle,
a black sport utility vehicle, provided by several witnesses. An assault weapon was taken from the
S.U.V., a police spokesman said.
“He fired off several rounds,” a Little Rock police spokesman, Lt. Terry Hastings, said. “We have no
idea of a motive.” “We are only now beginning to question him, “Lieutenant Hastings said of the
suspect.
The dead man was identified by the Pulaski County coroner’s office as William Long, 23, of Conway,
Ark. The wounded soldier, identified by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as Quenton Ezeagwula, was
being treated at Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock, a hospital spokesperson said.
The shooting occurred at 10:19, outside an Army recruiting station at the Ashley Square Shopping
Center on the city’s affluent west side. The shopping center, at the intersection of Reservoir and
Rodney Parham Roads, is not far from the Breckenridge and Colony West subdivisions, and also
contains a pharmacy, delicatessen and restaurant.
Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the Army recruiting command at Fort Knox, Ky., said the soldiers
were participants in what is known as a hometown recruiter assistance program, and had returned
to Little Rock, their hometown, to talk up the Army experience with friends, relatives and former
neighbors. Although he did not have details about the victims, Mr. Smith said participants in the
program tend to be new soldiers recently out of basic training.
An eyewitness, Lance Luplow, told KATV he heard six or seven shots while he was in his front yard
across the street from the crime scene, and looked up to see the black vehicle pulling away and two
soldiers in military fatigues wounded. He ran to over the scene, he said, adding that the windows of
the vehicle were tinted, so he could not identify the driver.
One of the soldiers, shot in the buttocks and behind the ear, crawled into the recruiting office muttering,
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Mr. Luplow recounted. He said recruiters and soldiers from inside
the station immediately tried to stop the bleeding and apply CPR to the victims. “They were definitely
targeted,” Mr. Luplow said of the soldiers, noting that the truck seemed to stop briefly in front of the
office when the shots were fired and then sped off afterward.
A broad section of the shopping center’s parking lot was still cordoned by yellow police tape three hours
after the shooting, as police technicians scoured the scene looking for fingerprints and taking measurements.
Steve Barnes reported from Little Rock, and James Dao from New York.