NORFOLK, VA — A Smithfield man has pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally selling the handgun used in the March terrorist attack at Old Dominion University that killed an Army ROTC instructor and wounded two cadets, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced Friday.
Kenya Mcchell Chapman, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of dealing in firearms without a license and three counts of making false statements during firearm purchases. Federal prosecutors said the charges stem from his sale of the firearm used by Mohamed Bailor Jalloh in the March 12 shooting at ODU in Norfolk.
According to prosecutors, Jalloh carried out what authorities have described as a terrorist attack during an Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps class, killing one person and injuring two others. Jalloh was previously convicted in federal court in 2016 of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and, as a convicted felon, was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.
Court documents state investigators reviewing Jalloh's cellphone found Chapman was among the people he contacted most frequently in the week before the shooting. The final call between the two occurred minutes before the attack, according to prosecutors. (Department of Justice)
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Authorities searched Chapman's home on March 13 and recovered ammunition consistent with that used in the handgun found at the shooting scene. Prosecutors said Chapman admitted stealing the firearm from a vehicle in Newport News about a year before the attack and selling it to Jalloh the night before the shooting. The gun's serial number had been partially altered or obliterated, according to court records.
Federal prosecutors also alleged that Chapman purchased three firearms in 2021 that were later recovered at crime scenes. Two were recovered during homicide investigations and another was recovered following a public intoxication arrest.
Chapman is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 18. He faces up to 35 years in federal prison, though any sentence will be determined by a U.S. district judge after considering the federal sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Washington Field Division and the FBI's Norfolk Field Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rebecca Gantt and Luke Bresnahan are prosecuting it.
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