NORFOLK, MARCH 15, 2026 — He walked into the classroom, asked if it was an ROTC class, and when someone said yes — he opened fire. What Mohamed Bailor Jalloh did not account for was what those students would do next.
When Jalloh, a 36-year-old former Army National Guardsman previously convicted of attempting to support ISIS, opened fire at Old Dominion University’s Constant Hall in Norfolk, Virginia on Thursday morning, the ROTC cadets in the room did not run. They fought back. Within minutes, they had subdued and killed the attacker — preventing what investigators believe could have been a far deadlier massacre.
One person died. Army Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, an ROTC instructor whom Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger described as a devoted teacher who didn’t just lead a life of service to his country but taught and led others to follow that path, was shot multiple times and did not survive. Two other Army personnel were critically wounded and hospitalized. The shooter died at the hands of the students he had come to kill.
How It Happened
The shooting erupted at approximately 10:43 AM inside Constant Hall, the hub of Old Dominion University’s College of Business. Jalloh walked into the classroom and, upon confirming it was an ROTC class, opened fire on Lt. Col. Shah. FBI Special Agent in Charge Dominique Evans said Jalloh shouted “Allahu Akbar” before firing.
What happened next was immediate and decisive. The ROTC cadets in the room — trained soldiers in their own right — launched themselves at the attacker. They physically overpowered Jalloh, stabbing him during the struggle. He was not shot. Evans was asked how exactly the students killed him and gave a response that captured the raw reality of what unfolded: “They basically were able to terminate the threat. I don’t know how else to say it.”
Police received calls at 10:43 AM, arrived four minutes later, and by 10:50 AM had determined the shooter was dead. An all-clear was issued across the campus at 12:10 PM.
A Convicted Terrorist Released Early
The story of what Jalloh did on Thursday cannot be told without the story of what the federal justice system did in December 2024. Jalloh had pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to provide material support to ISIS — specifically communicating with an overseas ISIS member and meeting with what he believed was an ISIS operative in the United States, who was actually an FBI informant. He told the informant he had been thinking about conducting an attack similar to the 2009 Fort Hood massacre, which killed 13 people.
Prosecutors recommended 20 years. A federal judge sentenced him to 11 years in 2017. At sentencing, Jalloh apologized, told the court he was disgusted by ISIS, and called his involvement the worst mistake of his life.
On December 23, 2024, he walked free — released early after completing a substance abuse treatment program under a federal provision that allows reduced sentences for inmates who complete such programs. Federal inmates convicted of terrorism-related offenses are legally ineligible for that early release provision. The Bureau of Prisons acknowledged Friday that previous leadership had proposed updates to exclude terrorism convictions from eligibility but that efforts to update the policy had been stalled by a union collective bargaining dispute.
President Trump did not let that detail pass quietly. He posted Friday that the Old Dominion shooting was carried out by an individual previously arrested for providing material support to an Islamic State terrorist group, who was released early from federal prison under the Biden administration.
A Day of Two Attacks
The Old Dominion shooting did not happen in isolation. It occurred on the same morning — just 90 minutes before — a man drove a truck through the doors of Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, the largest Reform synagogue in the United States, and died in a shootout with security. All 140 children inside the synagogue escaped safely.
Two terror-linked attacks on American soil in a single morning sent a wave of alarm through federal law enforcement. Security was tightened at Jewish institutions, universities, and military facilities across multiple states. Several Virginia universities investigated bomb threats on their campuses the following day. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force confirmed it was investigating both incidents.
The Students Who Saved Lives
In a week defined by American deaths overseas — 13 service members killed in the Iran war, six of them in a single aircraft crash — Thursday’s story from Norfolk offered something different. A group of college students, training to become military officers, faced a terrorist in a classroom and did not yield.
FBI Special Agent Evans called their actions an example of extreme bravery and courage that prevented further loss of life. FBI Director Kash Patel said they subdued the suspect and saved lives that would otherwise have been lost. Old Dominion University President Brian Hemphill said the campus and the community had been forever impacted — and that he was grateful the toll was not worse.
Lt. Col. Brandon Shah was 44 years old. He was a husband, a father, and by every account a man who had devoted his life to building the next generation of American soldiers. On Thursday morning in Norfolk, the students he had trained honored everything he had taught them.
