An instructor was killed and two others were injured during the terror-related attack on Thursday, March 12. The suspect was subdued and ultimately “rendered no longer alive” by students
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“Brave” students at Old Dominion University in Virginia successfully “terminated” a shooter after he fired into a college classroom on Thursday, March 12, according to federal authorities.
The Associated Press reported, citing authorities, that 36-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Virginia National Guardsman, was “subdued” and killed by students following the classroom shooting that claimed the life of an instructor and injured two others.
“There were students in that room that subdued him, and rendered him no longer alive … I don’t know how else to say it, they basically were able to terminate the threat,” Dominique Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Norfolk field office, said at a Thursday news conference, per CBS News.
“If not for them, I’m not sure, you know, what else he would have done,” she said, per the outlet.
CNN reported, citing multiple law enforcement sources, that one of the students stabbed the gunman.
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The shooting is being investigated as a terror-related attack, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post.
Patel praised the “brave students who stepped in and subdued [the shooter] — actions that undoubtedly saved lives along with the quick response of law enforcement.”
“The FBI is now investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism,” the post continues. “Our Joint Terrorism Task Force is fully engaged, embedded with local authorities, and providing all resources necessary in the investigation.”
Jalloh allegedly walked into a classroom in Constant Hall — which is known as a hub for the college’s business school — before enquiring if it was a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) class. He then started shooting when someone confirmed it was, CBS News reported, citing a law enforcement source.
“I can tell you that we have confirmed reports that prior to him conducting this act of terrorism, he shouted, stated, ‘Allahu Akbar,’ and he was formally a subject of a FBI investigation into material supporting terrorism,” Evans said, per the outlet.
Officers were called to the scene around 11:11 a.m., Norfolk Police said on X.
There was no longer a threat as of 11:43 a.m., per an update from the university.
According to the AP, Jalloh previously spent time in prison for attempting to aid the Islamic State and was released in December 2024.
