Officials identify Virginia shooter as someone convicted of providing material support to ISIS
The gunman, identified as 36-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, opened fire on the Norfolk campus earlier Thursday, killing one person and injuring two others before he was killed.
Officials Thursday identified the suspected shooter at Old Dominion University as a former Army National Guard member who was previously convicted of providing material support to ISIS.
The gunman, identified as 36-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, opened fire on the Norfolk campus earlier Thursday, killing an ROTC instructor and injuring two ROTC members before he was killed, per the New York Post.
It was not immediately clear how Jalloh died but FBI Director Kash Patel said a group of students "stepped in and subdued him."
FBI Special Agent Dominique Evans told reporters in a news briefing that Jalloh busted into an ROTC classroom at the Virginia school and shouted “Allahu Akbar," an Arabic phrase meaning “God is Great."
Officials said Jalloh was involved in a 2016 plot to "murder US military personnel," according to NBC News, and attempted to purchase an AK-47 in North Carolina that year. The gun owner refused to sell him the weapon, but he acquired an AR-15 at a local gun store that July and was arrested a day later. Authorities also claimed Jalloh attempted to provide funds to people hoping to join ISIS.
He pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and was sentenced to 11 years in prison and five years of supervised release but was released in 2024.
No motive for the shooting has been released so far, but the incident is being investigated as an act of terrorism.