( CNN ) -- A man accused of shooting two soldiers at a military recruiting center in 2009 pleaded guilty Monday to the crime and received a sentence of life in prison without parole . Abdulhakim Muhammad , formerly known as Carlos Bledsoe , was charged with killing Pvt . William Long , 23 , and wounding Pvt . Quinton Ezeagwula , 18 . The attack happened June 1 , 2009 , outside a recruiting center in Little Rock , Arkansas . Muhammad faced 12 charges in total -- capital murder , attempted capital murder and 10 counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm from a vehicle -- according to Stephanie Harris , a spokeswoman with the state court system . In Arkansas , defendants can not plead guilty in a case in which the death penalty is a possibility . Prosecutors agreed to drop the death penalty in exchange for Muhammad 's plea , Harris said . A Muslim convert from Memphis , Tennessee , Muhammad was 23 at the time of the fatal shooting . He was angry at the U.S. military because of `` what they had done to Muslims in the past , '' Little Rock homicide Detective Tommy Hudson has said . CNN 's Sara Pratley contributed to this report .
Abdulhakim Muhammad pleads guilty to a fatal attack at a Little Rock military center . He was charged with killing Pvt . Anthony Long , 18 , and wounding Pvt . Anthony Ezeagwula , 17 . Prosecutors took the death penalty off the table in exchange for Muhammad 's release .