WASHINGTON -- One soldier is dead and another critically wounded after a man opened fire outside of a U.S. Army recruiting center in Little Rock, Ark.

The suspect is a convert to Islam and had reportedly been in federal authorities' sights for some time.

Authorities say that Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammed -- formerly known as Carlos Leon Bledsoe -- specifically targeted military personnel.

ABC News is reporting that the 24-year-old Muhammed has been under investigation by the FBI's Joint Terrorist Task Force ever since returning from a stay in the al Qaeda hotbed of Yemen.

The investigation was sparked after Yemeni authorities arrested Muhammed for using a Somali passport.

It's still unclear what Muhammed was doing in Yemen and whether he also traveled to Somalia, another al Qaeda safe haven.

Authorities have said, however, that there were "political and religous motives" behind the shooting at the recruiting center, adding that Muhammed was not part of a wider conspiracy to kill U.S. soldiers.

Muhammed was taken into custody shortly after the shooting. Police found more than 100 rounds of ammunition, an SKS assault rifle, two pistols, and two military books in his car.

The attack comes just two weeks after four Muslim converts were arrested in New York and charged with plotting to blow up local synagogues and airliners bound for Iraq and Afghanistan.