Suspect in Old Dominion University shooting was convicted ISIS supporter

Suspect in Old Dominion University Shooting Identified as Convicted ISIS Supporter

A 36-year-old man with a prior conviction for aiding a terrorist group has been named as the individual behind a deadly shooting at a Virginia college on Thursday. The FBI confirmed that the assailant, Mohammed Bailor Jalloh, was also killed during the attack. Authorities reported that the incident unfolded in an Old Dominion University classroom, leaving one person dead and two others wounded. The identity of the fatally injured victim has not yet been disclosed.

U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll stated that the two injured individuals were military personnel. The FBI is treating the shooting as a potential act of terrorism, citing Jalloh’s actions during the attack. Dominique Evans, head of the Norfolk field office, noted that Jalloh shouted “Allahu Akbar” before being subdued by students who “rendered him no longer alive.”

Jalloh’s military background includes service in the Virginia National Guard from 2009 to 2015 as a combat engineer. Though he had no overseas deployments, he was honorably discharged. The following year, he was arrested on charges of attempting to provide material support to ISIS, according to court records. He pleaded guilty and received an 11-year prison sentence alongside five years of probation. Released in 2024, Jalloh was last seen in public before the shooting.

Documents from the sentencing phase revealed Jalloh sent gift card codes to an FBI undercover agent, whom he believed to be an ISIS operative. In 2016, he sought to purchase an AK-47 for a plot targeting U.S. military personnel, but the seller refused. He ultimately bought an AR-15 rifle from a local store. The next day, he was arrested.

“Any loss of life is tragic, and violence against innocent people contradicts Islamic teachings and fundamental human morality,” wrote Ashraf Nubani, one of Jalloh’s attorneys, in an email. His defense team argued in another sentencing memo that Jalloh’s radical ideals were a “shallow search for identity and purpose” that did not reflect a commitment to violence. The team claimed he took responsibility for his actions, highlighting his “gullibility, impressionability, lack of sophistication, and passivity” in interactions with ISIS and the FBI.

The memo also described Jalloh’s life as marked by “war, trauma, violence, sexual abuse, and significant cultural and familial dislocation,” while noting his “bright, capable, hard-working, and kind” nature before his turn toward extremism. At his sentencing, Jalloh told the judge: “This entire crime is not who I am, it’s not who I plan to be, and it’s not who I have been. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but this mistake of giving any support to the violent and extreme organization ISIS has been the most devastating one I have ever decided to make in my life.”

Jalloh added: “Every time I see any atrocities that ISIS commits, I am disgusted by it because I know this is not what I want to be a part of.”

Ryan J. Reilly is a justice reporter for NBC News. Gary Grumbach is an NBC News legal affairs reporter, based in Washington, D.C. Tim Stelloh is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.