Mohamed Bailor Jalloh entered a classroom at Old Dominion University on Thursday, confirmed it was an ROTC class, and opened fire. He killed Lt. Col. Brandon Shah. Brave cadets subdued Jalloh and, as the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office stated, their actions “rendered [him] no longer alive.”
That should be the end of the story. It isn’t. Because Jalloh never should have been free to walk onto that campus.
Court records show Jalloh was arrested in 2016 for providing material support to ISIS. Federal prosecutors sought a 20-year sentence, the statutory maximum. Instead, Senior U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady sentenced him to 132 months, roughly 11 years. Then the Bureau of Prisons let him out even earlier. Fox News Digital reported that Jalloh was released in 2024, well before he would have finished serving even the reduced sentence.
AP News reported that Jalloh was released from federal prison about two and a half years early after completing the Bureau of Prisons’ Residential Drug Abuse Program. Terrorism convictions are supposed to disqualify inmates from that sentence reduction. The Bureau of Prisons blamed a policy loophole and said it has since changed the rules.
Read that again. A man convicted of supporting the world’s most notorious terrorist organization got out early through a drug treatment program he should never have been eligible for.
The Washington Free Beacon noted that Jalloh was transferred to a halfway house in August 2024 and released from federal custody in December 2024. Had he served his full sentence, he would have still been behind bars when the Old Dominion attack occurred.
That fact alone should haunt every bureaucrat who signed off on his release.
The sentencing memorandum from prosecutors left no room for ambiguity about who Jalloh was. They wrote:
“The defendant was fully aware of what he was doing and the consequences of those actions. His only misgivings seemed to be a fear that he would waver at the critical moment.”
A now-deceased ISIS member overseas arranged contact between Jalloh and an individual he believed to be a fellow supporter, who turned out to be an FBI confidential source. Investigators said Jalloh also traveled to Nigeria as part of the plot. The overseas terrorist wanted an attack carried out.
Newsmax reported that court records show Jalloh told an undercover FBI agent he was considering a Fort Hood-style attack and tried to donate money to ISIS. He attempted to buy an AR-15 and later bought another rifle during the 2016 sting before being arrested the next day.
Jalloh told the FBI source he decided not to renew his enlistment with the Virginia Army National Guard after listening to lectures from Anwar al-Awlaki, the al Qaeda terrorist and New Mexico native killed in a 2011 drone strike ordered by President Barack Obama.
As the New York Post reported, Jalloh told the FBI source he believed it was better to plan an attack during Ramadan because that was “100 percent the right thing,” according to the DOJ. FBI Director Kash Patel said the shooting is being investigated “as an act of terrorism.”
Former federal prosecutor William Shipley laid out the sentencing history on X. He wrote that the government asked for 240 months, the statutory maximum, and got 132.
“The Judge who imposed the reduced sentence was Senior Judge Liam O’Grady, in the Eastern District of Virginia, a GWB appointee. Judge O’Grady announced he was taking Senior Status in June 2020, right in the heart of the start of COVID, meaning there was no chance that Pres[ident] Trump would be able to get his replacement confirmed.”
Shipley added that Joe Biden “ended up nominating his replacement, Judge Patricia Giles.” He noted that Giles ruled in 2024 that Virginia had illegally purged noncitizens from the voter rolls too close to that year’s election and ordered their restoration.
The terms of Jalloh’s release required no contact with any terrorist organizations and computer monitoring during probation. O’Grady’s sentence also included mental health treatment and substance abuse testing.
Clearly, none of that stopped him.
The ROTC cadets who charged Jalloh did what the system failed to do: they stopped a terrorist. The FBI’s Norfolk Field Office confirmed the cadets physically subdued the gunman and ended the attack. These young men and women training to serve their country acted with the courage their training demanded.
Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, the ROTC instructor killed in the attack, gave his life in a classroom where he was shaping the next generation of military leaders. He deserved a nation that kept convicted terrorists locked up.
Rep. Jennifer Kiggans, R-Va., said what everyone was thinking:
“The horrific tragedy that occurred today on ODU’s campus never should have happened.”
National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent pointed to the broader threat environment, noting:
“As the Iran conflict continues to unfold, ODNI’s National Counterterrorism Center is engaged and operating at full capacity, 24/7. We are tracking developments in real time, assessing any potential risks to the homeland, identifying emerging threats and providing timely, actionable intelligence to the White House, law enforcement and interagency partners to detect and prevent attacks against the American people.”
Kent said his team is “acutely aware” of the “persistent” threat from those with terror ties who “poured into our nation unchecked during four years of open borders under Biden.” He urged Americans:
“Constant vigilance is a must. Stay aware of your surroundings, and if you see something suspicious, report it immediately to local law enforcement. Every one of us has a role to play in keeping this nation secure.”
A DOJ spokesperson told Fox News Digital there are “no known or credible threats to the homeland” at this time and that federal agents are “maintaining a constant state of vigilance to keep Americans safe.”
This case follows a grim and familiar script. A terrorist is caught. Prosecutors push for the maximum. A judge cuts the sentence. A bureaucratic loophole shaves off more time. And someone dies.
The failures here stack up:
The media’s handling of ISIS-inspired attacks on American soil often buries the systemic failures that allow them. This case demands the opposite. Every link in the chain, from the courtroom to the prison to the parole office, failed Lt. Col. Brandon Shah.
Fox News Digital reached out to ODNI, the FBI, and O’Grady for comment.
When the system treats a convicted ISIS supporter like a low-risk drug offender, the system isn’t broken. It’s working exactly the way soft-on-terror policies designed it to work, and Americans pay the price.
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