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The morning alert at Old Dominion University came in bluntly: active threat at Constant Hall, run-hide-fight, avoid the area. Within minutes, a classroom tied to the university’s Army ROTC program had become the scene of a deadly attack, one that federal authorities now say is being investigated as terrorism.
By the end of Thursday, March 12, the picture had sharpened into something even more disturbing.
The FBI identified the attacker as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Virginia Army National Guard specialist who had previously pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to ISIS.
Authorities say he opened fire in a classroom at Old Dominion in Norfolk, Virginia, killing Lt. Col. Brandon Shah and injuring 2 others before ROTC students subdued him and killed him.
A Campus Attack, Then a Violent End
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Old Dominion’s emergency log shows the first public alert went out at 10:48 a.m., warning of an active threat at Constant Hall.
The university later said that shortly before 10:49 a.m., a gunman opened fire inside the building. By 11:30 a.m., ODU said the shooter had been “neutralized,” and at 12:05 p.m. the school issued an all-clear.
What happened inside that classroom, according to the FBI and Associated Press reporting, was fast and exceptionally violent.
Jalloh allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” before opening fire. FBI officials said ROTC students then intervened with what Special Agent in Charge Dominique Evans described as “extreme bravery and courage,” stopping the attacker and preventing further loss of life.
Evans said the students “rendered him no longer alive” and confirmed he was not shot, though authorities have not yet publicly explained the precise cause of his death.
That unresolved detail matters. In a case already drawing national attention because of the suspect’s terrorism history, investigators still have key factual gaps to close in public, including exactly how the gunman died and whether there was any broader operational planning behind the attack. At this stage, the official line remains that the FBI is treating the shooting as an act of terrorism.
The Victim Was a Decorated Officer and ODU Leader
The person killed was Lt. Col. Brandon A. Shah, Old Dominion’s professor of military science and department chair for Army ROTC.
His university biography describes him as a Virginia native, ODU alumnus, Army aviator, and combat veteran who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Atlantic Resolve.
The profile says he flew more than 1,200 hours in 3 aircraft, including more than 600 combat flight hours, and had received multiple high-level military decorations, including 2 Bronze Stars and an Air Medal with Valor.
That biography now reads less like a résumé than a record of service cut short in a classroom. Shah was not only a uniformed officer, but also a builder of a university program that trained future Army leaders.
Old Dominion had highlighted his role in growing ROTC enrollment and mentoring cadets who were preparing to become officers themselves.
The 2 injured victims were reported to be ROTC students. According to AP reporting, one remained in critical condition while the other was treated and released.
A Suspect Who Had Already Been Through the Federal Terrorism System
One of the most unsettling parts of the story lies in the suspect’s history. The Justice Department said in 2017 that Jalloh, then 27, was sentenced to 11 years in prison and 5 years of supervised release for attempting to provide material support to ISIL.
Federal prosecutors described him as a former Army National Guard member from Sterling, Virginia.
The AP reported that Jalloh had spent about 8 years in prison and was on supervised release when the Old Dominion attack occurred.
FBI officials said it was not immediately clear why his prison term had effectively ended early. AP also reported that, according to a 2016 FBI affidavit, Jalloh had expressed admiration for the 2009 Fort Hood massacre and aspired to carry out a similar attack.
That history is likely to raise difficult questions for federal law enforcement and the supervision system that followed his conviction.
A man once convicted in a terrorism case, according to current reporting, was able to return to civilian life, remain under supervised release, and then allegedly target an ROTC classroom with deadly force.
A University in Shock
Old Dominion canceled classes and suspended operations on March 12, then closed all locations on Friday, March 13, while the investigation continued. The university also set up counseling support for students, staff, faculty, and community members, with food services remaining available for students in campus housing.
In a message to the campus, President Brian O. Hemphill called the shooting a tragedy and thanked university police, emergency personnel, and Norfolk city partners for their response. The university’s emergency page later paid tribute to “our fellow Monarch who was lost” and to the 2 injured students.
Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger said state police and members of her administration were supporting local and federal officials at the scene. She also said she had spoken with Hemphill and offered condolences to the university community.
The Meaning of the ROTC Response
In the first hours after a campus shooting, the public focus usually settles on the suspect, the motive, the body count. At Old Dominion, another fact now stands beside all of that: cadets in the room fought back.
Federal officials credited ROTC students with stopping the attack. That judgment is not incidental. In attacks measured in seconds, intervention often determines whether the death toll freezes or climbs. The FBI’s public praise strongly suggests investigators believe the students’ actions prevented additional killings inside that classroom.
There is also a bitter symmetry to the location and the victims. The suspect was a former Guardsman with a terrorism conviction. The man he killed was a serving Army officer and university ROTC leader training future officers. The students who stopped him were part of that same military formation. Those facts do not simply deepen the tragedy, they define it.
