Recently in Crime Category

I didn't get around Tuesday to updating my coverage of this story, so here we go ...

Abdulhakim Muhammad, the former Memphian and Muslim convert charged in the fatal shooting of a soldier and the wounding of another last week outside a Little Rock military recruiting center, called The Associated Press collect from jail to tell his side of the story. Muhammad said he doesn't feel he's guilty, and that he doesn't consider the shooting to be murder "because murder is when a person kills another person without justified reason." The 23-year-old does, however, consider the shooting an act of revenge:

"Yes, I did tell the police upon my arrest that this was an act of retaliation, and not a reaction on the soldiers personally," Muhammad said. He called it "a act, for the sake of God, for the sake of Allah, the Lord of all the world, and also a retaliation on U.S. military"

In another chat with AP today, Muhammad said he's unaware of any plans for similar attacks against the military on American soil, but he warns of danger ahead:

Last week's release of the FBI's preliminary 2008 Uniform Crime Report had at least some good news for Memphians -- a 14 percent drop in violent crime since 2006, a per-capita murder rate that placed just 21st among large cities -- but the political Web site Real Clear Politics crunched the data and called Memphis the nation's least-safe city.

And the U.S.'s least safe city? That distinction goes to Memphis, Tennessee, with a crime rate of 18% per capita, followed by Atlanta (16%), San Antonio (15.2%), Detroit (13.7%) and Milwaukee (13.4%). These rates reflect the total crimes detailed in the FBI's report divided by the population of the city.

For her part, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin is having none of it:

"The blog's rankings are based on incorrect data; they are contrary to the findings of reputable authorities on crime data; and they ignore Atlanta's 7-year track record of crime reduction," Franklin said Monday in a press release.

The lawyer for former Memphian Abdulhakim Muhammad spoke to The Associated Press today about his client, who is charged with capital murder in the shooting death of a soldier and the wounding of another Monday outside a military recruiting center in Little Rock.

Attorney Jim Hensley (pictured at right) says Muhammad left college to teach English in Yemen but became radicalized while there. Hensley further stated that the FBI hung Muhammad out to dry after he was detained (Hensley says it was because Muhammad's visa had expired; previous reports said Muhammad was using a phony Somali passport).

"Here comes the FBI, who may be able to help this guy or save his life, and then they leave and then he's got to go back in with these hardened terrorists. He's got to survive, how do you live with that?" Hensley said. "He absolutely feels that the FBI and anyone else associated with the United States government left him to the wolves, that's for certain."

ABC News has a long report about Muhammad's connections to a mosque in Columbus, Ohio, that has been known as a jumping-off point for radicals, especially Somalis, before they go overseas to fight jihad.

I have extensively updated last night's post about Abdulhakim Muhammad, who is charged with capital murder in the shooting death of a soldier and the wounding of another outside a military recruiting center in Little Rock. Any additional updates throughout the day will be appended to this post.

UPDATE: The global intelligence source STRATFOR has sent out a newsletter analysis on Muhammad that is also posted on its Web site. STRATFOR mentions the significance of Muhammad's middle name, Mujahid:

In Arabic, the word mujahid is the singular form of mujahideen, and it literally means one who engages in jihad. Although Mujahid is not an uncommon Muslim name, it is quite telling that a convert to Islam would choose such a name -- one who engages in jihad -- to define his new identity.

The analysis talks about how difficult it is for investigators to home in on "lone wolf" operatives like Muhammad, and how this reality may have tied the FBI's hands in investigating Muhammad after his return from Yemen:

The news about Abdulhakim Muhammad, who was charged with capital murder today in the shooting death of a soldier and the wounding of another at a military recruiting center in Little Rock, is getting more ominous by the minute.

AP's latest write-through (7:13 p.m. CDT) adds that Muhammad may have considered other targets, "including military sites and Jewish organizations in the Southeast."

ABC News reports on investigators' focus on Muhammad's travel and associations:

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 to wage jihad.

Eyewitness News in Memphis tracks down some personal background on Muhammad, who grew up in the Raleigh area of Memphis as Carlos Bledsoe before his conversion to Islam.

Amid reports that Muhammad "admitted shooting the soldiers 'because of what they had done to Muslims in the past,'" as AP quoted deputy prosecutor Scott Duncan, conservative blogs like Power Line are asking for liberal critics of Bush-era war-on-terror policies to take responsibility for the alleged shooter's actions.

UPDATE: (1:16 p.m. CDT) The New York Times moved a story late last night that has more important details. Some commenters at commercialappeal.com have wondered why Muhammad wasn't under surveillance after returning to the U.S. from Yemen, where he had been arrested for using a fake Somali passport. The Times explains:

The episode in Yemen prompted a preliminary inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other American law enforcement agencies into whether the man, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, had ties to extremist groups, the officials said. But that investigation was inconclusive, they said, leaving the bureau with insufficient evidence to wiretap his phone or put him under surveillance.

The Times also cites Little Rock police saying that 23-year-old Muhammad, formerly Carlos Bledsoe, converted to Islam "possibly as a teenager living in (Memphis) Tennessee."

AP uncovers an FBI memo that says the bureau and the Department of Homeland Security notified law enforcement in a number of cities, including Memphis, that Muhammad had been researching different sites for possible targeting.

Fox News links Muhammad to other cases of American Muslim converts involved in attacks against U.S. targets.

Further updates will be made throughout the day in this post.

The Memphis man known as "Mr. Casino" was convicted today of organizing a cheating conspiracy at Native American-run casinos in Connecticut.
Richard Taylor, 43, could face decades in prison in the state's first major cheating case.
I ran across this story on the Web site of The Day newspaper in New London, Conn. Among other Connecticut newspapers, the Norwich Bulletin also covered the story.
All told, Taylor ripped off the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun for $70,000.This story helps explain Taylor's system, which involved recruiting dealers to let players cheat in exchange for a cut of the ill-gotten winnings.