NORFOLK, Va. — The gunman in the Old Dominion University shooting was identified by law enforcement as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Virginia National Guardsman with ties to ISIS who had also been enrolled at ODU at the time of the shooting.
Jalloh was admitted to ODU in fall 2006 as a freshman and had been enrolled through Spring 2013, an ODU official told Scripps News Group in Norfolk.
Jalloh pleaded guilty in October 2016 of attempting to provide material support to ISIS, known at the time as ISIL, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, according to CBS. Jalloh admitted to trying to donate money to ISIL and commit a domestic attack in its name.
He was sentenced to 11 years in prison, but was released early in December 2024, according to CBS News.
The ODU official said Jalloh reenrolled at ODU in summer 2025. It was directly confirmed that he was a current student at the time of Thursday's shooting.
Jalloh was born in September 1989 in Sierra Leone, according to CBS. He resided in Sterling, Virginia and has U.S. citizenship.
Jalloh grew radicalized while in the Virginia National Guard between 2009 and 2015 after listening to lectures by deceased al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, according to the FBI. The media referred to al-Awlaki as a "hate preacher."
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Jalloh told the FBI that Awlaki said it was "incumbent upon every able Muslim to resist America in Iraq and Afghanistan." Jalloh also said that Awlaki’s lectures helped him to “understand” that after ISIS announced its so-called caliphate, “this was the reality.”
At his sentencing, Jalloh said he "deeply regretted his actions and was disgusted by ISIS," according to CBS.
“First of all, I want to say I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but this mistake of giving any support to the violent and extreme organization ISIS has been the most devastating one I have ever decided to make in my life,” he told the judge, according to a transcript reviewed by CBS News.
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“I definitely renounce and denounce every action that they have taken and anything that they've done. I do not want to be associated. And I am deeply, deeply, deeply sorry to this Court, I'm sorry to the American military, I'm sorry to the people of the United States, I'm very, very sorry for what I have done. I did not intend to cause any harm to anyone. And I want to say -- I want to say, every time I see any atrocities that ISIS commits, I am disgusted by it because I know this is not what I want to be a part of.”
Around 11 a.m., Jalloh walked into a classroom in Constant Hall on ODU's campus and asked if it was an ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) class, according to CBS. Jalloh started shooting after someone confirmed it was, fatally injuring the class instructor who was a retired Army officer.
Two other victims were also injured in the classroom. They were taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where one died and the other is in critical condition.
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A third victim was taken to Sentara Independence in a private vehicle and was treated and released.
This incident is being investigated as a terror related attack, according to the FBI.
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