NORFOLK, Va. — The group of Army ROTC cadets who subdued and killed Old Dominion University shooter Mohamed Bailor Jalloh after he opened fire on the class on March 12 say several of them wrestled him to the ground and stabbed him to death.
Several of the students appeared in a 17-minute video posted to the Army ROTC's YouTube page Wednesday night — the first time any of them have spoken publicly about what the FBI called a terrorist attack in Constant Hall.
Their instructor, Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, was killed in the shooting, and two others were injured.
Watch the full video:
A normal day
Louis Ancheta, one of the cadets who earned a purple heart for his actions during the shooting, said it was just a normal day of presentations in class.
"It was probably the one day we stayed the entire class period," cadet Oshea Bego said.
Their instructor, Lt. Col Brandon Shah, was about to let them out of class when Jalloh walked into the room and asked if it was an ROTC class or a seminar.
"Someone came in, just some random Joe," Ancheta said. "I wasn't thinking about what that question really meant."
Samuel Reineberg said Jalloh sounded nervous. After no one spoke up, he asked again. A cadet said it was, and Shah nodded.
"He reached down into his waistbelt ... and shouted 'Allahu akbar' and began shooting in the direction of Lt. Col. Shah," cadet Wesley Myers said.
Watch related: Community gathers to remember Lt. Col. Brandon Shah
Taking cover
Most of the cadets said they hit the ground as soon as they heard gunshots, with some hiding under their desks. But Ancheta said he pulled out his pocket knife and ran towards Jalloh immediately, who was wrestling with Lt. Col. Shah.
"With my pocket knife, I open it, I run up and as I'm running up, Colonel Shah lunges at the guy, and starts wrestling with him upright," Ancheta said.
Jalloh shot a stray over Ancheta's shoulder, and then shot him, but he said barely felt it.
"It really didn't feel like it hit me. It felt like a graze. After that, I'm like, I can keep on going," Ancheta said. "I just go in there, I just start stabbing him. As I'm stabbing him, other cadets jump in."
Jeremy Rawlinson said as he was getting up from the ground, he saw one cadet jump over a table to help Ancheta and Shah, and Rawlinson knew he had to help.
"I said to myself, 'Well if he's going, I gotta back him,'" Rawlinson said.
Multiple cadets joined him, according to Myers. Some stabbed Jalloh, some punched him, some wrestled with his gun. Myers got the gun away from Jalloh and dropped an empty magazine.
Ancheta said he started to feel some pain once he put his pocket knife away.
"I'm like, "Guys, can you get off me? I think I've been shot,'" Ancheta said.
Myers immediately started performing first aid, and Ancheta pulled out his phone and told him to call his mom. That was when they noticed Shah was injured.
He fell onto the wall, and Reineberg caught him on the way down. He had a gunshot on his right thigh, and the cadets made a tourniquet with a belt. One cadet called the ODU's chief of police, and another led rounds of law enforcement to the room.
SWAT arrives
SWAT officers took over first aid on Shah once they arrived, and put a chest seal on Ancheta. Both went into surgery once they arrived at the hospital, and the other cadets were interviewed at the police station.
Cecilia Osso said they knew someone had died, but did not know who. She only found out it was Shah after calling an academy member. Other cadets said they found out once they got back home.
"He's a hero. He lunged at him, just wrestled with him, tried to save us," Ancheta said.
Multiple cadets said that Shah's guidance was the reason they were able do what they did in the moment.
Jah-ire Urtarte, who was sitting in the front row right near the door, said he would not be alive if it weren't for Shah.
"If he didn't lunge at him, you know, I wouldn't be here right now," Urtate said. "There's a possibility he could have turned his gun, and I could've been next."
Terrorist attack investigation
The FBI held a press conference hours after the shooting where the Norfolk field office was investigating it as a terrorist attack.
Jalloh had previously been convicted of giving material support to ISIS, known as ISIL at the time, and served about eight years of an 11-year sentence, court records show.
Court documents from his 2016 conviction showed Jalloh sent money to people affiliated with ISIL, and shared information to a confidential informant about his desire to commit an attack like the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood.
Jalloh was released from jail two-and-a-half years early and enrolled as a student at ODU in the summer of 2025 — seven months before he attacked the classroom in Constant Hall.
Watch: FBI holds press conference following ODU shooting
The aftermath
In the weeks after the shooting, the ODU Faculty Senate — which had previously expressed its feelings about President Brian Hemphill in a vote of no confidence — has raised concerns about safety matters at Constant Hall and on campus.
The senate resurfaced a 2024 email from an instructor who wrote to Hemphill about safety concerns in Constant Hall, the building that houses the Strome School of Business.
The instructor said they feared a shooter would have no barrier to accessing their classrooms.
In response, the ODU Board of Visitors issued a strong rebuke, suggesting the Senate was trying to use a terrorist attack to further its political motives against President Hemphill.
Watch related: ODU Faculty Senate, admin clash over 2024 email
