Heroic Students Stop Armed Guardsman in Campus Incident: A Harrowing Tale

At Old Dominion University, Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) students courageously intervened to stop a National Guardsman-turned-ISIS terrorist, who had launched an attack on the Virginia campus. The assailant, who shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the incident, killed one person and injured two others before being neutralized by the ROTC students.

The students demonstrated remarkable bravery, effectively preventing further casualties, according to FBI spokesperson Dominique Evans. The suspect was identified as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh. “The ROTC students subdued him and rendered him no longer alive,” Evans stated, emphasizing the critical role they played in the crisis.

Although Evans did not disclose specific details regarding how the suspect was stopped, she confirmed that the gunman was not shot. Earlier reports suggested he might have been stabbed, but this remains unconfirmed.

Evans further revealed that Jalloh had expressed a desire to carry out a terrorist attack similar to the infamous Fort Hood shootings.

Evans said Jalloh aspired to conduct a terrorist attack like the killings at Fort Hood.

‘I can tell you that we have confirmed reports that prior to him conducting this act of terrorism, he shouted, stated, ”Allahu Akbar,” and he was formerly a subject of an FBI investigation into material supporting terrorism,’ she added. 

The shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post.

The students’ actions ‘undoubtedly saved lives along with the quick response of law enforcement,’ Patel said.

ROTC students at Old Dominion University subdued and killed the National Guardsman turned ISIS terrorist who shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ before he killed one and wounded two at the school

The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps students showed ‘extreme bravery and courage’ and prevented further loss of life by stopping the suspect, identified as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh (pictured) 

Jalloh, 36, opened fire inside the Norfolk, Virginia, school on Thursday morning, sources confirmed to several news outlets.

He stormed into a classroom and asked if it was a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) class, The New York Post reported.

After a person in the room confirmed that it was, he opened fire on the professor, sources told the outlet, before Jalloh was killed. 

They added that that the professor, a retired military officer, was rushed to hospital where he later died. 

Jalloh, a U.S. citizen originally from Sierra Leone, was released from prison in 2024 after being caught attempting to hand information to ISIS and ISIL in 2015. 

He was sentenced to 11 years behind bars in 2017 which was to be followed by five years supervised release.  

Old Dominion University Police Chief Garrett Shelton said officers responded after receiving reports that people were being shot in one of the classrooms.

Officials confirmed on Thursday that two other victims remain injured after the shooting. One of the victims brought themselves to a hospital.  

Jalloh, seen here, opened fire inside the Norfolk, Virginia , school on Thursday morning

Police arrive outside Old Dominion University’s campus after reports of an active shooter

The two surviving victims appear to be in stable condition and added that authorities are ‘very early’ in the investigation. 

Lt. Col. Jimmy Delongchamp, public information officer for the U.S. Army Cadet Command at Fort Knox, said the two people wounded are members of ROTC.

He said: ‘We will continue to coordinate with the university and law enforcement agencies as they investigate the incident. There’s still a lot more stuff we have to work out.’

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 of the shooting. 

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.

Hemphill said: ‘We are deeply committed to safeguarding all Monarchs and ensuring a secure learning, living, and working environment at all times.’

Jalloh, a U.S. citizen originally from Sierra Leone, was released from prison in 2024 after being caught attempting to hand information to ISIS and ISIL in 2015

The ROTC students subdued him and ‘rendered him no longer alive,’ Dominique Evans added. ‘I don’t know how else to say it’

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 that she was monitoring the situation and that ‘state support is being mobilized’ to help ODU. She didn’t provide specifics.

Ashraf Nubani, a Virginia attorney who represented Jalloh in his 2016 criminal case, did not immediately respond to messages Thursday seeking comment.

Jalloh’s sister, Fatmatu Jalloh of Sterling, Virginia, said Thursday she knew nothing about the attack. She said she last saw her brother two days earlier.

‘I have no idea what is going on,’ the suspect’s sister said. ‘I know nothing. I don’t even know who to call.’

According to a 2016 FBI affidavit filed in his criminal case, Jalloh told a government informant he quit the Army National Guard after hearing lectures from radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. 

The Virginia Army National Guard confirmed Jalloh served as a specialist from 2009 until 2015, when he was honorably discharged.

A court affidavit recounts a three-month sting operation in which Jalloh, then 26, said he was thinking about carrying out an attack similar to the 2009 shootings at Fort Hood, which left 13 people dead. 

Police block an entrance road after a gunman opened fire at Old Dominion University in Norfolk

Old Dominion University Police Chief Garrett Shelton said officers responded after receiving reports that people were being shot in one of the classrooms

Authorities launched the 2016 operation after Jalloh made contact with Islamic State members in Africa earlier that year. 

Jalloh later told the informant that the Islamic State group had asked if he wanted to participate in an attack. 

He tried to donate $500 to the Islamic State, but the money actually went to an account controlled by the FBI, according to court documents.

Jalloh then tried to buy an AR-15 assault rifle from a Virginia gun store but was turned away because he lacked the proper paperwork. 

The affidavit says he returned the next day and bought a different assault rifle. 

Prosecutors said the rifle was rendered inoperable before Jalloh left the store, unbeknownst to Jalloh. He was arrested the following day.

The Justice Department in 2017 requested a 20-year prison sentence for Jalloh, noting that he had made multiple attempts to join the Islamic State and had attempted to acquire a gun to carry out a murder plot in the United States. 

Jalloh’s lawyers requested a six and a half year prison sentence and placement in a facility with residential drug treatment for inmates with addiction and substance abuse issues.

Within about an hour of the shooting, ODU declared that there was no longer a threat on the campus

In a message to the university community, ODU President Brian Hemphill said the school faced a tragedy on campus

‘The defendant was fully aware of what he was doing, and the consequences of those actions. His only misgivings seemed to be a fear that he would waver at the critical moment,’ prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

They added: ‘By putting the idea of this murder plot into religious terms, and by suggesting that murdering members of the US military would be a path to heaven, the defendant showed how strongly committed he was to the deadly ideology’ of the Islamic State.

U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, sentenced him instead to 11 years in prison.

According to Sentara Health, two of the Old Dominion University 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.

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 percent 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.