ROTC Students Subdued, Killed Gunman After Old Dominion Shooting: FBI

NORFOLK, VA — The gunman who opened fire inside a classroom at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, fatally wounding one and injuring two others, was subdued and killed by ROTC students after the shooting, authorities said.

Dominique Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Norfolk field office, said at a news conference that the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps students showed “extreme bravery and courage” and prevented further loss of life by stopping the gunman, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh.

The students subdued him and “rendered him no longer alive,” Evans said. “I don’t know how else to say it.” She confirmed Jalloh wasn’t shot, but didn’t provide further details.

Authorities identified Jalloh as the shooter on Thursday and confirmed he pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison and was on supervised release when the ODU shooting occurred.

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Jalloh is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sierra Leone. The Virginia Army National Guard also confirmed he served as a specialist from 2009 until 2015, when he was honorably discharged.

The shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post.

The FBI said Jalloh aspired to conduct a terrorist attack like the 2009 killings at Fort Hood. He had yelled “Allahu Akbar” before the shooting, according to authorities.

Initial reports said two people were injured on Thursday morning after the shooting in Constant Hall, the university's business school building. A spokesperson for Sentara Health told The Associated Press that both victims were taken to the hospital in critical condition.

At a news conference on Thursday afternoon, ODU Police Chief Garrett Shelton said a third victim took themselves to a hospital in Virginia Beach for treatment, the Virginian-Pilot reported. One of the victims was treated at a hospital and released.

Lt. Col. Jimmy Delongchamp, public information officer for the U.S. Army Cadet Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky, told The Associated Press that two of the people who were shot were part of the Army ROTC at ODU.

ROTC is a program where students receive a scholarship to attend college while training to become commissioned officers in the U.S. military. They are committed to serving as officers for a period of time after they graduate.

Voorhees University in South Carolina confirmed the victim who died was Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, the son-in-law of a Voorhees trustee.

Shah attended ODU as an ROTC student, according to his biography on the university's website, and returned in 2022 as the program's leader. Since then, enrollment in ODU’s Army ROTC has increased nearly 50%, according to an ODU profile.

“We do in one office everything the university does,” Shah said in the profile. “We recruit. We train. We educate. We develop.”

In the Army, Shah flew helicopters over Iraq, Afghanistan and Eastern Europe as a pilot. Shah also received numerous military commendations, including two Bronze Stars, the Virginian-Pilot reported.

The military, he said, “has given me a lot of opportunities. I’ve lived on four continents, been on five. I love flying and being around people who like to work.”

Old Dominion University canceled classes and operations on the school's main campus for the remainder of Thursday. Classes were also canceled on Friday.

In a message to the university community, ODU President Brian Hemphill expressed gratitude for the swift emergency response and extended his thoughts and prayers to those impacted.

Located in coastal Norfolk, Old Dominion University has about 24,000 students, 17,500 of them undergraduates. The school has around 240 degree programs, and is known for its research spending and doctoral programs. Nearly 30% of its students are military-affiliated, according to the university website. The area is also home to Naval Station Norfolk, the largest naval station in the world.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.