12/03/2026
A Sierra Leonean called Mohamed Jalloh a former National Guard member and also ISIS supporter has been identified as the gunman in a deadly shooting at Old Dominion University (ODU)
The shooter opened fire just before 10:49 a.m. at ODU's Constant Hall in Norfolk, Virginia, killing one person and wounding two other people. The gunman is also dead.
He has been identified by authorities as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, A US citizen originally from Sierra Leone who pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, according to the FBI.
The shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post. He said the shooter is dead because of “a group of brave students who stepped in and subdued him.”
"We have confirmed reports that prior to him conducting this act of terrorism, he shouted all our stated Allahu Akbar," Special Agent in Charge Dominique Evans said in a Thursday evening press conference.
According to the Justice Department, Jalloh was compelled to leave the U.S. military after he began listening to the online lectures of Al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi. The department also said that Jalloh "praised" the July 2015 terrorist attack in Chattanooga, Tennessee, when a gunman opened fire and killed four U.S. Marines and a Navy sailor.
Jalloh also shared that he had been thinking about conducting an attack similar to the attack at Ft. Hood, Texas, in November 2009, which killed 13 people and wounded 32 others.
In a letter asking for a judge for leniency, Jalloh shared his love for America, writing: "I have and have always had deep respect and still have respect for the American people and the American values that I pledged to serve."
"I reject and deplore terrorism and any groups associated with it, especially ISIL. I hate how I allowed myself to be manipulated and how ISIL manipulates troubled and impressionable people like me with their religious propaganda by appealing to Islamic solidarity and a skewed interpretation of selective verses from the Quran. I feel like a complete idiot for accepting such a superficial and dishonest interpretation of Islam, and for blindly accepting what I was being told," he wrote.
"I will make It my life’s mission to telling the truth about ISIL and all Islamic terrorists, and to prevent other troubled young men from falling prey to their propaganda like I did. I love the United States of America. I have always been grateful to this nation for what it has done for me and my family."