LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — United States Senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton and Representative French Hill said the U.S. Army will award the Purple Heart to two soldiers who were shot outside an Army recruiting station in Little Rock.
Private William Long of Conway was killed, and Private Quinton Ezeagwula of Jacksonville was wounded when they were shot in June 2009.
The 2014 Defense Authorization Bill authorizes the Purple Heart to military members killed or wounded in an attack that specifically targets them because they are a member of the U.S. Armed Forces or is carried out by a foreign terrorist organization.
Abdulhakim Muhammad is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to capital murder and attempted capital murder in the shootings that he said were in retaliation for U.S. policy in the Middle East.