The suspect who killed one person and injured two others at Old Dominion University on Thursday has been identified by authorities as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, who pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, according to the FBI.
The shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post. He said the shooter is dead because of “a group of brave students who stepped in 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 Nubani, a Virginia attorney who represented Jalloh in his 2016 criminal case, did not immediately respond to messages Thursday seeking comment.
At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Old Dominion University Police Chief Garrett Shelton said officers responded after receiving reports that people were being shot in one of the classrooms in the university’s business school building, Constant Hall.
After the university initially said there were two victims, Shelton said authorities learned that there was a third victim who brought themselves to a hospital. It wasn’t immediately clear how the shooter died.
He did not acknowledge whether any officers fired a weapon.
He said all three victims are affiliated with the university. Shelton said authorities are “very early” in the investigation and have not yet determined the “full cause of death” of the shooter.
Within a matter of less than 10 minutes, the call came in, officers arrived and they determined the shooter was dead, the chief said.
Lt. Col. Jimmy Delongchamp, public information officer for the U.S. Army Cadet Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky, told The Associated Press that two people wounded are members of the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at ODU.
“We will continue to coordinate with the university and law enforcement agencies as they investigate the incident,” Delongchamp said in a brief telephone interview. “There’s still a lot more stuff we have to work out.”
According to Sentara Health, two of the victims were transported by ambulance to the Level I trauma center at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. One of those patients has passed away. The other remains in critical condition.
A third person was treated and released from the Sentara Independence free-standing emergency department in Virginia Beach after arriving in a personal vehicle, Sentara Health said.
Within about an hour of the shooting, ODU declared that there was no longer a threat on the campus.
The public university in Norfolk canceled classes and suspended all operations on its main campus through Friday and urged people to avoid the area in and around Constant Hall while emergency officials continued to work. Counseling and food services will remain available.
In a message to the university community, ODU President Brian Hemphill said the school faced a tragedy on campus. He expressed gratefulness for the swift emergency response and thoughts and prayers to those impacted.
“The safety of our campus community is my top priority,” Hemphill wrote. “We are deeply committed to safeguarding all Monarchs and ensuring a secure learning, living, and working environment at all times.”
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said on the social platform X that it had agents on 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. She didn’t provide specifics.
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.
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