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Rabbi Saul Strosberg

Nashville, TN - As was reported here on VIN News yesterday, court records show a former Tennessee State University student tried to firebomb the Nashville home of an orthodox rabbi.

Federal agents said the threat was part of multi-state attack that left a soldier dead in Arkansas in 2009.

Abdulhakim Muhammad faces a string of charges, including murder, after he was accused of shooting and killing a soldier in Little Rock, Ark.

Agents said Muhammad also confessed to wanting to kill Nashville Rabbi Saul Strosberg of Sherith Israel congregation  before the Arkansas shooting.

“We were told by the federal agents that he tried to throw a Molotov cocktail through the window of the house where we’d been living. It never exploded,” said Strosberg.

In court filings, Muhammad told an Arkansas state doctor that he the bomb “bounced off the glass” but didn’t go through. He said his attack was “retaliation, nothing personal.”

Strosberg said agents told him to keep quiet about the attack so they could continue to collect evidence against Muhammad.

“Luckily this terrorist didn’t have his act together completely because what he could have done could have been a lot worse. So, we’re lucky,” said Strosberg.

After the failed firebomb attack, agents said Muhammad went to Little Rock, Ark., where police said he went on a shooting spree, killing a soldier and wounding two others.

Muhammad admitted in court records that he targeted Jews and U.S. soldiers because he felt the soldiers were targeting Islam. Court records show Muhammad was once named Carlos Bledsoe and attended TSU.

His records show after attending TSU he traveled abroad to Yemen to apparently teach English. While there, he was sent to prison for having a false Somali passport. Sometime after that, Muhammad said he converted to Islam and joined Al-Qaeda. He then came back to the United States and started his jihad, said agents.

“The fact that this kid, who goes to TSU, goes to Yemen for a year wants to come back and kills us is scary,” said Strosberg.

Before he went to Little Rock, Ark., Muhammad admitted in court records that he stopped in Florence, Ky., where he wanted to shoot up an Army recruitment center but it was closed. The FBI said this case is still an open investigation.

Since the attempted firebombing, Strosberg said he increased security at his synagogue and new home.

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