ROTC cadets in a classroom at Old Dominion University were able to subdue and kill a shooter who killed one person and wounded two others, the FBI announced Thursday.
The suspect identified by authorities as Muhammad Baylor Jalloh shouted “Allahu Akbar” before opening fire, Dominic Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Norfolk field office, said at a news conference. Evans added that ROTC cadets then stopped him, showing “extreme courage and courage” and preventing further loss of life.
“They subdued him and made him no longer alive,” Evans said. “I don’t know how to say it.”
It did not provide further details about this except to ensure that the gunman was not shot.
This is a breaking news update. Previous story follows below.
Authorities have identified the suspect who killed one person and wounded two others at Old Dominion University on Thursday as Muhammad Baylor Jalloh, who pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, according to the FBI.
FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post that the shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism. He said the shooter died because of “a group of brave students who intervened and subdued him.”
Their actions “undoubtedly saved lives along with the quick response of law enforcement,” Patel said.
Jalloh, a former member of the Army National Guard, was sentenced to 11 years in prison and was released from federal custody in December 2024.
Ashraf Noubani, the Virginia attorney who represented Jalloh in his 2016 criminal case, did not immediately respond to messages Thursday seeking comment.
Jalloh’s sister, Fatimatu Gullo of Sterling, Virginia, said Thursday she knew nothing about the attack. She said she last saw her brother two days ago.
“I have no idea what’s going on,” the suspect’s sister said. “I don’t know anything. I don’t even know who to call.”
At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Old Dominion University Police Chief Garrett Shelton said officers responded after receiving reports of people being shot in a classroom at the university’s business school building, Constant Hall.
After the university initially said there were two victims, Shelton said authorities learned there was a third victim who had taken herself to the hospital. It was not immediately clear how the shooter died.
He did not acknowledge whether any of the officers fired a weapon.
He said that the three victims belong to the university. Shelton said authorities are “very early” in the investigation and have not yet determined the shooter’s “full cause of death.”
Within less than 10 minutes, a call came in, and officers arrived and determined the shooter was dead, the chief said.
Lt. Col. Jimmy DeLongchamp, public information officer at U.S. Army Cadet Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky, told The Associated Press that two people injured were members of the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps at ODU.
“We will continue to coordinate with the university and law enforcement agencies as they investigate the incident,” DeLongsham said in a brief phone interview. “There are still a lot of things we have to work on.”
The suspect in the shooting, Jalloh, is a naturalized American citizen from Sierra Leone.
According to a 2016 FBI affidavit filed in his criminal case, Jalloh told a government informant that he resigned from the Army National Guard after hearing lectures from extremist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. The Virginia Army National Guard confirmed that Jalloh served as a specialist from 2009 until 2015, when he was honorably discharged.
Court testimony recounts a three-month process in which Jalloh, then 26, said he was considering carrying out an attack similar to the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, which left 13 people dead. Authorities launched the operation in 2016 after Jalloh made contact with ISIS members in Africa earlier that year.
Jalloh later told the informant that ISIS asked him if he wanted to participate in the attack. He tried to donate $500 to ISIS, but the money actually went to an account controlled by the FBI, according to court documents.
Jalloh then tried to purchase an AR-15 assault rifle from a gun store in Virginia, but his request was denied because he lacked the proper paperwork. He returned the next day and purchased a different assault rifle, the affidavit says. Prosecutors said the gun became inoperable before Jalloh left the store, without Jalloh’s knowledge. He was arrested the next day.
In 2017, the Ministry of Justice requested that Jalloh be sentenced to 20 years in prison, noting that he had made multiple attempts to join ISIS and tried to obtain a weapon to carry out a murder plot in the United States. Jalloh’s attorneys requested that he be sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison and be placed in a drug treatment facility for inmates with addiction and substance abuse problems.
“The defendant was fully aware of what he was doing, and the consequences of those actions. His only fear appears to have been a fear that he would hesitate at the critical moment,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
They added: “By putting the idea of this murder plot in religious terms, and by suggesting that killing members of the US military would be a path to heaven, the defendant demonstrated how strongly he committed to the murderous ideology” of the Islamic State.
U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady, appointed by President George W. Bush, sentenced him to 11 years in prison.
According to Sentara Health, two Old Dominion University victims were transported by ambulance to the Level I Trauma Center at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. One of these patients died. The other is still in critical condition.
A third person was treated and released from the free-standing emergency department at Sentara Independence in Virginia Beach after arriving by personal vehicle, Sentara Health said.
Within about an hour of the shooting, ODU announced there was no longer any threat on campus.
Norfolk Public University canceled classes and suspended all operations at its main campus through Friday and urged people to avoid the area in and around Constant Hall while emergency officials continued their work. Counseling and food services will still be available.
In a message to the university community, ODU President Brian Hemphill said the school is facing a tragedy on campus. He expressed his gratitude for the quick response to the emergency and his thoughts and prayers to those affected.
“The safety of our campus community is my top priority,” Hemphill wrote. “We are deeply committed to protecting all monarchs and ensuring a safe learning, living and working environment at all times.”
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said on the social media platform X that it had agents at the scene supporting the response.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger said in social media posts that she was monitoring the situation and that “state support is being mobilized” to help ODU. No details were provided.
Located in coastal Norfolk, Old Dominion University has approximately 24,000 students, 17,500 of whom are undergraduates. The school has about 240 programs and is known for its spending on research and doctoral programs. Nearly 30% of its students belong to the military, according to the university’s website. The area is also home to Norfolk Naval Station, the largest marine station in the world.
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Associated Press journalists Allen J. Breed in Wake Forest, North Carolina, and Michael Biesecker in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
This article was generated from an automated news feed without any modifications to the text.
