KILLEEN -- Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo carefully cultivated an image of a peace lover, both inside the Army and outside it.

An infantryman from Garland who enlisted in 2009, Abdo filed for conscientious-objector status last year shortly before his 101st Airborne Division unit deployed to Afghanistan, citing his Muslim faith as the reason he could not go to war.

He gave several interviews, including one to CNN in which he said he "started really asking myself whether God would accept what I was doing and whether I was really meant to go to war, as opposed to the peace that Islam preaches."

On Thursday night, Abdo, 21, was in custody, accused of plotting to kill by bullet and bomb fellow soldiers in a frightening reprise of the November 2009 massacre at Fort Hood.

The plot started to unravel Tuesday afternoon after a retired police officer who works at a gun store in Killeen became suspicious of a customer's purchases and his behavior, including that he was traveling in a taxi.

Abdo was arrested Wednesday at a Killeen motel, where authorities found firearms and "items that could be identified as bombmaking components, including gunpowder," FBI spokesman Erik Vasys said.

According to an Army alert obtained by The Associated Press, Abdo "was in possession of a large quantity of ammunition, weapons and a bomb inside a backpack," and upon questioning, he admitted planning an attack on Fort Hood.

Killeen Police Chief Dennis Baldwin said Abdo was close to pulling off a "terror plot" in which the target was troops based at Fort Hood, although there are indications that Abdo was eyeing an off-post location.

"We would probably be here today giving you a different briefing had he not been stopped," Baldwin said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.

The early investigation, led by the FBI, has led officials to believe that Abdo did not have accomplices, Baldwin said.

U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, who represents the area, said the suspect might have been targeting a restaurant.

"Speculation based on conversations I've had with law enforcement is that he was trying to find where Fort Hood soldiers gathered off-post," Carter said. "He was planning on one or two bombs and to finish everyone off with a handgun."

Declared AWOL

Abdo had been sought by Army authorities since he was declared absent without leave from his unit at Fort Campbell, Ky., nearly a month ago.

He was facing a court-martial over 34 images of child pornography found on a computer he used.

In addition, the military's criminal investigation division, along with the federal Joint Terrorism Task Force, investigated Abdo earlier after he was flagged for making unspecified anti-American comments while taking a language class, a U.S. official briefed on the investigation told the AP.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said neither the military nor the task force discovered anything at the time to indicate Abdo was planning an attack.

Officials said they did not know why Abdo traveled to Fort Hood.

The incident brought back frightening memories of the shooting deaths of 13 people and the wounding of 29 others at the base on Nov. 5, 2009.

Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is being court-martialed and faces the death penalty in that attack.

"Thanks to quick action by a Texas gun dealer in alerting local police to a suspicious character, and a prompt and vigorous response by the Killeen Police Department, we may well have averted a repeat of the tragic 2009 radical Islamic terror attack on our nation's largest military installation," Carter said.

Conscientious objector

Abdo, who grew up in Garland, joined the Army in March 2009 and became an infantryman. In summer 2009, he was assigned to the 101st Airborne.

A year later, he submitted a packet requesting conscientious-objector status and was not deployed as scheduled with his unit.

In an essay that Abdo sent to the AP as he made his plea, he said that his mother is Christian and his father is Muslim, and that he decided to follow Islam when he was 17.

Senior commanders approved his conscientious-objector request in May and were preparing to discharge him, but those plans were halted by an investigation into child pornography found on his computer.

An Article 32 hearing was held June 15, and the investigating officer recommended a court-martial.

Sometime after that, he stopped showing up at Fort Campbell. He was officially declared AWOL on July 4.

The Army problems now appear to be the least of Abdo's troubles. The FBI said Abdo will be transferred to their custody soon.

A former neighbor of Abdo's mother in Garland, who declined to give her name, said she had met Abdo. She said his mother is single and that he has a sister.

"He's a good boy," she said. "I know about him trying to get out of the Army, and I don't have anything against it. ... I know about him not wanting to fight against his people," presumably a reference to Muslims.

Suspicions raised

On Tuesday at Guns Galore Llc., a customer believed to be Abdo bought gunpowder, three boxes of shotgun shells and a magazine for a semiautomatic weapon.

The store in Killeen serves "all hunting, recreational and gun collectors' needs," said employee Greg Ebert, a retired Killeen police officer.

Ebert said he and the manager were suspicious of the man, whom Ebert described as aloof.

"That's why I got turned off with the old boy," he said. "He was arrogant."

Their suspicions were raised when the man revealed that he didn't know what smokeless gunpowder was but was buying several pounds of it.

"If you don't know what the [stuff] is, why are you buying it?" Ebert said.

"He didn't do anything illegal. It wasn't unlawful for us to sell it to him. But why buy 6 pounds of powder if you're not sure how it functions?"

Ebert and the manager also noticed that the customer arrived in a taxi, which is unusual in a midsize Texas city.

After he left, Ebert and the store manager decided that they were uncomfortable about the customer. Guns Galore is the same store where Hasan bought his handguns and ammunition in 2009.

"We alerted the police to a potential problem, and they took it from there," he said.

Motel bust

According to the Army alert obtained by the AP, Killeen police learned from the taxi company that Abdo hd been picked up at a motel and had also visited an Army surplus store where he paid cash for a uniform bearing Fort Hood unit patches.

When the police arrived at the Best Value Inn on South Fort Hood Street, "the maid came running down the hall and started banging on the door," said Dwight Rogers, who was staying at the motel with his daughter and two grandchildren. "She said 'Get out, get out. We have to evacuate!'"

Rogers said he gathered his grandchildren and moved outdoors. The police wouldn't tell guests what was happening, but the maid told him that "someone had a gun."

Guests were not allowed to return to their rooms and had to stay elsewhere, said Jose Flores, another guest. Most of the rooms at the two-story motel were empty, Rogers said. Only a few rooms near his were occupied.

Carter said the arrest could not help but revive memories of the 2009 shootings.

However, "the greatest thing," Carter said, "is that it didn't happen."