An honored Army helicopter pilot and ROTC instructor was killed Thursday morning when a convicted Islamic State sympathizer opened fire inside a classroom at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, until military cadets overpowered and fatally stabbed the attacker in an incident the FBI is probing as terrorism.
Lieutenant Colonel Brandon Shah, 42, died in the assault at Constant Hall, the business school building, shortly before 11 a.m. on March 12. Two other Army ROTC members were wounded. One was initially listed in critical condition but was upgraded to fair/recovering as of Friday, March 13, 2026. The other was treated and released.
The shooter, identified as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, 36, yelled “Allahu Akbar” before firing, according to FBI Special Agent in Charge Dominique Evans. Law enforcement sources told NBC News that Jalloh asked whether it was an ROTC class prior to starting the attack.
ROTC cadets in the classroom immediately fought back, tackling Jalloh and killing him within minutes. Multiple law enforcement sources confirmed one student fatally stabbed the attacker during the struggle.
“The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps students showed extreme bravery and courage,” Evans said at a news briefing. “The students subdued him and rendered him no longer alive.”
Old Dominion University Police Chief Garrett Shelton said less than 10 minutes elapsed between the officers receiving the call and when they confirmed the shooter was dead.
The attack rattled the coastal Virginia campus of about 24,000 students, nearly 30% of whom have military ties. The university is located near Naval Station Norfolk, the largest naval base in the world.
Jalloh’s deadly assault occurred more than eight years after he pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State. He had served roughly eight and a half years of an 11-year sentence before being released on December 23, 2024, and was still under supervised release—similar to probation—when he carried out Thursday’s attack. That supervised release was due to run until 2029.
A naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Sierra Leone, Jalloh served as a specialist in the Virginia Army National Guard from 2009 until early 2015 and received an honorable discharge. According to a 2016 FBI affidavit, he told a government informant he left the Guard after attending talks by radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
During a three-month FBI sting in 2016, Jalloh said he wanted to carry out an attack similar to the 2009 Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 people. His first attempted weapon purchase, an AK-47 in North Carolina, failed when the seller declined. He then tried to buy an AR-15 in Virginia but lacked required paperwork. He ultimately bought a different assault rifle that was made inoperable before he left the store, and he was arrested the next day.
At his 2017 sentencing, federal prosecutors sought a 20-year term, asserting Jalloh’s statements showed a deep commitment to ISIS’s violent ideology. His attorneys asked for about 6½ years. U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady, appointed by former President George W. Bush, sentenced him to 11 years plus five years of supervised release.
The gun used in Thursday’s attack was reportedly stolen from a vehicle in Newport News about a year earlier and sold to Jalloh for $100 in cash days before the shooting, the Department of Justice said. Kenya Chapman, 32, faces federal charges including making false statements when purchasing a firearm and dealing firearms without a license.
Shah enlisted in the Army in 2003 and earned two Bronze Stars while piloting Apache helicopters in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Eastern Europe. He logged more than 1,200 flight hours, about 600 of them in combat. Shah returned to his alma mater in 2022 to lead the ROTC program and was recognized in 2023 for boosting enrollment by nearly 50%, from 95 to almost 140 students.
Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger honored Shah’s service: “A devoted ROTC instructor, Lt. Col. Shah didn’t just lead a life of service to our country, he taught and led others to follow that path.”
Shah’s cousin Rizwan Shah, also an Army veteran, said the family immigrated from Pakistan. Brandon Shah was born in the U.S. after his father moved to the country. “Up until this point we’ve been a great immigrant story,” Rizwan Shah told reporters. “It’s a horrible and tragic end to his story.”
Jalloh’s sister, Fatmatu Jalloh of Sterling, Virginia, said she last saw him two days before the attack and was unaware of any plans.
The university closed on Friday and provided counseling to students affected by the violence. University President Brian O. Hemphill called it a “senseless act of violence” and vowed that campus safety remains the institution’s top priority.
FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the shooting is being investigated as terrorism and credited the students’ actions with having “undoubtedly saved lives.”
