NORFOLK, Va. — The FBI identified the gunman in Thursday’s deadly shooting at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
Federal investigators said Mohamed Jalloh opened fire at the campus, killing one. Two others were injured.
The shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism, CNN reported.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Dominique Evans said Jalloh shouted “Allahu Akbar” or “God is greater.”
Old Dominion University’s police chief said Jalloh was already dead when they arrived, according to The Washington Post.
It is not known how Jalloh died, but officials said ROTC members subdued him. One student stabbed him, but his official cause of death has not been announced, CNN reported. Evans did say “He was not shot,” the Post reported.
“If not for them, I’m not sure what else he may have done,” Evans said, adding that they “showed extreme bravery and courage by containing the shooter and stopping further loss of life.”
Evans did not say if the ROTC members were targeted by Jalloh, and the agency is investigating if he coordinated the attack, the newspaper said.
Who is Mohamed Jalloh?
Jalloh had been convicted of aiding the Islamic State terrorist group and was jailed for his crime. He was released from prison less than two years ago, The Associated Press reported.
He pleaded guilty in October 2016 to providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and was sentenced in 2017 to 11 years behind bars. He was given credit for time served since his 2016 arrest, according to the AP. He was freed on Dec. 23, 2024, and was placed on supervised release, which would have run out in 2029. He was also ordered to have his computer monitored, NBC News reported.
Jalloh was arrested after a three-month sting operation and confessed to an undercover FBI agent that he was planning a Fort Hood-inspired attack that had left 13 people dead.
During the sting, he thought he was donating $500 to Islamic terrorists but was really sending it to an FBI-controlled account. He also attempted to buy an AR-15 but was denied because he did not have the paperwork needed. He returned the next day and bought a different weapon, which was made inoperable without his knowledge. He was arrested the day after the weapon purchase.
Jalloh was a naturalized citizen from Sierra Leone who was radicalized by Anwar al-Awlaki.
He served as part of the Virginia Army National Guard from 2009 until 2015 as a specialist, according to the AP, and was honorably discharged. CNN said he was a combat engineer. NBC News said he was never deployed.
Jalloh told the FBI source that he decided not to re-enlist after listening to lectures by an Al-Qaeda leader.
He wrote in a letter to the judge during his sentencing, “I feel deep regret in having been driven by my emotions rather than my intellect and becoming involved with such an evil organization. … I reject and deplore terrorism and any groups associated with it, especially ISIL.”
Jalloh also blamed drugs, saying he started using after he and his girlfriend of six years broke up, the AP reported.
“The pain I felt internally was unbearable, and drugs and alcohol were the only things that took that pain away,” Jalloh wrote, according to the AP. “I started doing marijuana, coke and mushrooms using one of them at least on a daily basis in order to kill the pain I was in and to fill in the void I felt internally.”
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