A convicted ISIS supporter walked into an Old Dominion University classroom Thursday, shouted “Allahu Akbar,” and opened fire, killing one person and wounding two others before students subdued and killed him. The FBI is investigating the attack as an act of terrorism.
The shooter was 36-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sierra Leone and former Virginia National Guard member. He had served 11 years in federal prison for trying to provide material support to the Islamic State. He walked free in December 2024, roughly 15 months before he carried out the attack in Norfolk, Virginia.
Let that sink in. A man who tried to arm ISIS got out of prison and allegedly committed the very act of terror he once fantasized about.
As Fox News Digital reported, multiple federal sources confirmed Jalloh as the suspected gunman. Old Dominion University Police Chief Garrett Shelton and President Brian Hemphill held a joint press briefing confirming three university-affiliated victims were injured and the suspect was dead.
The New York Post reported that Jalloh entered a classroom, asked whether it was an ROTC class, and then opened fire. He killed an instructor and wounded two ROTC members. A heroic ROTC cadet reportedly fatally stabbed him to stop the carnage.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Dominique Evans stated at a Thursday evening news conference:
“We have confirmed reports that prior to him conducting this act of terrorism, he shouted all our stated Allahu Akbar.”
AP News reported that Evans described how the students subdued Jalloh and “rendered him no longer alive.” Those students didn’t wait for backup. They acted, and saved lives.
FBI Director Kash Patel posted on social media shortly after the attack:
“Earlier today, an armed individual opened fire at Old Dominion University, leaving one person dead and two others wounded. The shooter is now deceased thanks to a group of brave students who stepped in and subdued him, actions that undoubtedly saved lives along with the quick response of law enforcement.”
Patel added that the Joint Terrorism Task Force is “fully engaged, embedded with local authorities, and providing all resources necessary in the investigation.” He asked Americans to pray for the victims, their families, and the ODU community.
Jalloh’s history reads like a flashing red alarm that the system chose to ignore. He served in the Virginia National Guard from April 30, 2009, to April 29, 2015, as a combat engineer with the 276th Engineer Battalion, 91st Troop Command. A Virginia National Guard spokesperson confirmed he held the rank of specialist and left with an honorable discharge.
But behind that uniform, something darker was growing. The Department of Justice stated that Jalloh began listening to online lectures by Anwar al-Aulaqi, the notorious al-Qaeda cleric. He praised the July 2015 terrorist attack in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that killed four U.S. Marines and a Navy sailor.
He also told others he had been thinking about conducting an attack similar to the November 2009 massacre at Fort Hood, Texas, which killed 13 people and wounded 32 others.
Authorities arrested Jalloh on July 3, 2016. The criminal complaint stated he tried to help procure weapons for what he believed would be an ISIS-inspired attack on U.S. soil. He also attempted to send money to support ISIS.
The Justice Department requested a 20-year prison sentence. U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, gave him 11 years plus five years of supervised release.
That nine-year gap between what prosecutors wanted and what the judge imposed now looks catastrophic.
At his sentencing, Jalloh said all the right things. He told the court:
“I reject and deplore terrorism and any groups associated with it, especially ISIL. I hate how I allowed myself to be manipulated and how ISIL manipulates troubled and impressionable people like me with their religious propaganda by appealing to Islamic solidarity and a skewed interpretation of selective verses from the Quran. I feel like a complete idiot for accepting such a superficial and dishonest interpretation of Islam, and for blindly accepting what I was being told.”
He pledged to make it his “life’s mission” to tell the truth about Islamic terrorists and prevent others from falling prey to their propaganda. He said he loved the United States.
Jalloh also told the court about his path to America and his time in uniform:
“Since I first came to the United States, I have loved this country deeply for saving me and my family, and for giving me so many opportunities that I would not have otherwise…. I always felt a desire to give back so not long after I started college at Old Dominion, I joined the Virginia Army National Guard as a way of contributing and helping protect this great country and see it prosper.”
Those words earned him a lighter sentence. Then he walked out of prison in December 2024 and, according to the FBI, returned to the very campus where he once studied to commit mass murder.
The students who stopped Jalloh deserve every honor this country can give them. They charged a gunman. They didn’t run. They ended the threat with their bare hands and whatever they could grab.
Director Patel called their actions ones “that undoubtedly saved lives.” That is not hyperbole. Without those students, the body count would almost certainly be higher.
This attack raises urgent questions that officials must answer:
The name of the person killed has not been publicly released. The conditions of the two wounded victims remain unclear. Those families deserve answers most of all.
Mohamed Bailor Jalloh told a federal judge he was reformed. He said he was manipulated. He said he loved America. The system believed him, cut his sentence nearly in half, and released him back into the world.
Fifteen months later, one person is dead on a college campus and two more are wounded, because a convicted terrorist did exactly what he once told authorities he dreamed of doing.
When someone tells you who they are, believe them. When someone tells you they wanted to commit a Fort Hood-style massacre, maybe don’t let them out early.
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