In a grim sample that has change into all too acquainted, one other campus has been shattered by gunfire, this time at Old Dominion University in Virginia, the place an attacker cloaked violence in the language of faith.
Federal authorities are investigating Thursday’s shooting at Old Dominion University as an act of terrorism after figuring out the gunman as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, 36, a former member of the Virginia National Guard who beforehand served jail time for trying to assist the terrorist group ISIS.
Devoted ROTC teacher Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, a father and husband, was killed in the attack. Two others have been hospitalized with accidents, college police Chief Garrett Shelton mentioned, noting all three victims have been affiliated with the college.
Federal investigators say they’re nonetheless piecing collectively the occasions main as much as the assault and what led Jalloh to hold out the taking pictures.
The case has drawn renewed scrutiny to Jalloh’s previous, together with a terrorism conviction practically a decade in the past that adopted an investigation officers mentioned stored them “up at night,” in addition to the circumstances surrounding his early launch from jail.
During the earlier investigation earlier than his stint in jail, investigators have been made conscious that Jalloh had expressed admiration for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage, when Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan killed 13 individuals and wounded dozens at a Texas navy base.
Here’s what we know about Jalloh.
Jalloh, a naturalized US citizen born in Sierra Leone, served as a fight engineer in the Virginia National Guard between 2009 and 2015, in keeping with a US Army official.
During a 2016 investigation, authorities discovered he had begun consuming on-line lectures from a deceased Al-Qaeda chief and in the end determined to not reenlist after leaving the Guard.
That similar 12 months, federal prosecutors mentioned Jalloh tried to help ISIS. He sought to acquire weapons he believed could be utilized in an assault carried out in the group’s identify and in addition tried to ship cash to the terrorist group, in keeping with the Department of Justice.
Unbeknownst to him, the individual he was speaking with was an FBI supply who was monitoring his conduct.
In 2016, Jalloh initially tried to buy an AR-15-style rifle from a gun store in Virginia however was denied as a result of he didn’t have the required documentation, in keeping with the affidavit.
Authorities say he got here again later the similar day and bought a special rifle, however the weapon had been disabled earlier than he left the retailer. He was taken into custody the subsequent day.
In conversations with the supply, court docket paperwork say Jalloh had mentioned potential timelines for an assault on US soil and “expressed that it was better to plan an operation for Ramadan,” in keeping with a FBI affidavit filed in his prison case.
Ramadan is considered one of the holiest intervals in Islam, a month devoted to fasting, prayer, reflection and religious renewal. The religion’s teachings emphasize compassion, endurance and restraint, together with refraining from anger and cruelty, values meant to be practiced much more deeply throughout Ramadan.
Central to Islamic doctrine is the prohibition towards taking harmless life, a precept that stands in direct distinction to acts of violence generally erroneously carried out in its identify.
An earlier plot and its echoes in the ODU assault
Jalloh pleaded responsible to trying to offer materials help to a delegated international terrorist group and was sentenced to 11 years in prison and 5 years of supervised launch in 2017.
Jalloh was serving his sentence at a low-security federal facility in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, earlier than being moved in August 2024 to a residential reentry middle, generally referred to as a midway home, in the Baltimore space, in keeping with the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
He was launched from federal custody in December 2024 — about two-and-a-half years earlier than the finish of his sentence.
His launch got here by way of a federal provision that enables some inmates to obtain early launch after finishing a substance abuse remedy program, in keeping with the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Jalloh mentioned in 2016 he had been pondering about finishing up an assault just like the 2009 Fort Hood bloodbath, authorities mentioned.
Officials consider that fixation could have carried over into Thursday’s taking pictures, which focused an ROTC gathering that included each active-duty navy personnel and college students coaching for service, in keeping with FBI Special Agent in Charge Dominique Evans.
Jalloh’s earlier case drew explicit concern amongst investigators and consultants.
In the guide “Homegrown: ISIS in America,” terrorism researcher Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens devoted a whole part to Jalloh’s 2016 case. When information of the assault broke, Meleagrou-Hitchens mentioned he was shocked.
“As far as I knew, he was still in jail,” he informed NCS, including the information raised severe questions about how authorities handle people convicted of supporting terrorist organizations as soon as they’re launched.
Meleagrou-Hitchens mentioned a number of elements made Jalloh notably regarding to investigators at the time. Among them have been his navy coaching, his journey to Sierra Leone after leaving the Guard the place he tried to make contact with ISIS-linked militants in Nigeria, and his communication with an ISIS “virtual plotter.”
These on-line operatives, primarily based in territory as soon as managed by ISIS, sought out supporters in Western nations and helped information potential assaults from afar.
Jalloh’s ambitions at the time, Meleagrou-Hitchens informed NCS, appeared to reflect the scale of the Fort Hood bloodbath.
Special brokers accountable for Jalloh’s case in 2016 mentioned of the multitude of instances they investigated over years, this was the one which “kept them up at night,” Meleagrou-Hitchens wrote in his guide.
Inmates with terrorism-related convictions are now not eligible for early launch below a brand new 2025 provision, in keeping with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Bureau director William Marshall carried out the change on September 25, 2025, below a Trump-era govt order, making certain inmates with terrorism associated prices will now not qualify for early launch below the prior federal provision.
After his launch from jail in December 2024, Jalloh is believed to have lived with household in Sterling, Virginia. He was taking on-line courses at Old Dominion University after his launch from jail, court docket data present.
Court paperwork say he remained below court-mandated probation at the time of the taking pictures, although a probation officer visited the dwelling he shared along with his sister solely twice a 12 months. The most up-to-date go to occurred in November 2025.
It is unclear if Jalloh exhibited any warning indicators that may have emerged throughout the roughly 12 months he spent exterior jail earlier than the assault.
Reporting from the neighborhood the place he could have lived painted an image of a comparatively quiet family.
Multiple generations dwell in the upscale three-level red-brick townhouse, in keeping with neighbors. They mentioned the household is thought to host at the very least one massive gathering a 12 months, usually with loud music.
An indication posted on Jalloh’s household’s entrance door learn, “We do not wish to speak to the press!”
After NCS knocked on the door, a middle-aged man answered and reiterated the household didn’t need to communicate to reporters.
“We really don’t want to speak to the media. Please understand we’re going through a very tough time,” he mentioned.
He didn’t verify whether or not Jalloh lived there.
Neighbors informed reporters the household largely stored to themselves.
Kenneth Brown, who lives in the neighborhood, informed NCS he would often see Jalloh strolling round the space.
“He would look down and not acknowledge you,” Brown mentioned.
Authorities say the violence unfolded late Thursday morning inside Constant Hall, the foremost constructing for Old Dominion University’s College of Business.
Old Dominion, a public college with about 24,000 college students, is situated in Norfolk, Virginia, roughly 200 miles southeast of Washington, DC.
Investigators say Jalloh entered a category or assembly attended by ROTC college students and active-duty service members at the college.
He requested individuals in the room twice to substantiate it was an ROTC occasion, in keeping with court docket paperwork.
Moments later, authorities say he shouted “Allahu Akbar,” an Arabic phrase that means “God is greatest,” and opened hearth.
The phrase “Allahu Akbar” is a central expression in Islam and is recited many occasions throughout Muslims’ 5 day by day prayers. It is usually utilized by Muslims round the world in on a regular basis life to reward God in moments of gratitude, pleasure and celebration, reminiscent of listening to excellent news or marking milestones and in addition in occasions of hardship as a reminder that religion is bigger than any problem.
Religious students and neighborhood leaders have lengthy famous that extremist teams have at occasions misappropriated the phrase throughout acts of violence, a use that stands in stark distinction to its deeply religious that means inside the religion.
When Jalloh started taking pictures, the group of scholars in the room rapidly reacted, dashing the attacker and managing to subdue him, Evans mentioned.
“Brave ROTC members in that room subdued him, and if not for them, I’m not sure what else he may have done,” Evans mentioned.
One of the college students stabbed Jalloh, in keeping with a number of regulation enforcement sources briefed on the case. The attacker’s final reason behind loss of life is unclear.
Police mentioned the first calls reporting the taking pictures got here in at 10:43 a.m. Officers arrived 4 minutes later, and by 10:50 a.m., authorities decided the attacker was lifeless.
Old Dominion scholar Zachary Mulder mentioned he had simply left a category in Constant Hall and was studying in one other constructing when individuals all of the sudden rushed in yelling there was a shooter.
“My heart dropped,” Mulder informed NCS affiliate WTKR. “I didn’t really know what was going on. I just knew I had to leave immediately.”
Investigators later mentioned the firearm utilized in Thursday’s assault had been bought illegally. Prosecutors say the one that offered the weapon informed authorities that Jalloh claimed he wanted it for defense whereas working as a supply driver.
Kenya Mcchell Chapman was arrested Friday in connection to his sale of a pistol to Jalloh.
A cellphone recovered close to Jalloh’s physique allowed regulation enforcement to retrace his latest actions, in keeping with court docket filings. Investigators say he repeatedly traveled between a number of places in Virginia in the days main as much as the assault, together with his dwelling, the college campus, one other residence and an Islamic middle.