By Alaa Elassar

(CNN) — In a grim pattern that has become all too familiar, another campus has been shattered by gunfire, this time at Old Dominion University in Virginia, where an attacker cloaked violence in the language of religion.

Federal authorities are investigating Thursday’s shooting at Old Dominion University as an act of terrorism after identifying the gunman as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, 36, a former member of the Virginia National Guard who previously served prison time for attempting to aid the terrorist group ISIS.

Devoted ROTC instructor Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, a father and husband, was killed in the attack. Two others were hospitalized with injuries, university police Chief Garrett Shelton said, noting all three victims were affiliated with the university.

Federal investigators say they are still piecing together the events leading up to the attack and what led Jalloh to carry out the shooting.

The case has drawn renewed scrutiny to Jalloh’s past, including a terrorism conviction nearly a decade ago that followed an investigation officials said kept them “up at night,” as well as the circumstances surrounding his early release from prison.

During the earlier investigation before his stint in prison, investigators were made aware that Jalloh had expressed admiration for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage, when Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan killed 13 people and wounded dozens at a Texas military base.

Here’s what we know about Jalloh.

A former National Guard member with a terrorism conviction

Jalloh, a naturalized US citizen born in Sierra Leone?, served as a combat engineer in the Virginia National Guard between 2009 and 2015, according to a US Army official.

During a 2016 investigation, authorities learned he had begun consuming online lectures from a deceased Al-Qaeda leader and ultimately decided not to reenlist after leaving the Guard.

That same year, federal prosecutors said Jalloh attempted to assist ISIS. He sought to obtain weapons he believed would be used in an attack carried out in the group’s name and also tried to send money to the terrorist organization, according to the Department of Justice.

Unbeknownst to him, the person he was communicating with was an FBI source who was monitoring his behavior.

In 2016, Jalloh initially attempted to purchase an AR-15-style rifle from a gun shop in Virginia but was denied because he did not have the required documentation, according to the affidavit.

Authorities say he came back later the same day and purchased a different rifle, but the weapon had been disabled before he left the store. He was taken into custody the next day.

In conversations with the source, court documents say Jalloh had discussed potential timelines for an attack on US soil and “expressed that it was better to plan an operation for Ramadan,” according to a FBI affidavit filed in his criminal case.

Ramadan is one of the holiest periods in Islam, a month dedicated to fasting, prayer, reflection and spiritual renewal. The faith’s teachings emphasize compassion, patience and restraint, including refraining from anger and cruelty, values meant to be practiced even more deeply during Ramadan.

Central to Islamic doctrine is the prohibition against taking innocent life, a principle that stands in direct contrast to acts of violence sometimes erroneously carried out in its name.

An earlier plot and its echoes in the ODU attack

Jalloh 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 in 2017.

Jalloh was serving his sentence at a low-security federal facility in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, before being moved in August 2024 to a residential reentry center, commonly known as a halfway house, in the Baltimore area, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

He was released from federal custody in December 2024 — about two-and-a-half years before the end of his sentence.

His release came through a federal provision that allows some inmates to receive early release after completing a substance abuse treatment program, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Jalloh said in 2016 he had been thinking about carrying out an attack similar to the 2009 Fort Hood massacre, authorities said.

Officials believe that fixation may have carried over into Thursday’s shooting, which targeted an ROTC gathering that included both active-duty military personnel and students training for service, according to FBI Special Agent in Charge Dominique Evans.

Jalloh’s earlier case drew particular concern among investigators and experts.

In the book “Homegrown: ISIS in America,” terrorism researcher Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens devoted an entire section to Jalloh’s 2016 case. When news of the attack broke, Meleagrou-Hitchens said he was stunned.

“As far as I knew, he was still in jail,” he told CNN, adding the news raised serious questions about how authorities manage individuals convicted of supporting terrorist organizations once they are released.

Meleagrou-Hitchens said several factors made Jalloh particularly concerning to investigators at the time. Among them were his military training, his travel to Sierra Leone after leaving the Guard where he attempted to make contact with ISIS-linked militants in Nigeria, and his communication with an ISIS “virtual plotter.”

These online operatives, based in territory once controlled by ISIS, sought out supporters in Western countries and helped guide potential attacks from afar.

Jalloh’s ambitions at the time, Meleagrou-Hitchens told CNN, appeared to mirror the scale of the Fort Hood massacre.

Special agents in charge of Jalloh’s case in 2016 said of the multitude of cases they investigated over years, this was the one that “kept them up at night,” Meleagrou-Hitchens wrote in his book.

Inmates with terrorism-related convictions are no longer eligible for early release under a new 2025 provision, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Bureau director William Marshall implemented the change on September 25, 2025, under a Trump-era executive order, ensuring inmates with terrorism related charges will no longer qualify for early release under the prior federal provision.

Life after prison

After his release from prison in December 2024, Jalloh is believed to have lived with family in Sterling, Virginia. He was taking online classes at Old Dominion University after his release from prison, court records show.

Court documents say he remained under court-mandated probation at the time of the shooting, though a probation officer visited the home he shared with his sister only twice a year. The most recent visit occurred in November 2025.

It is unclear if Jalloh exhibited any warning signs that might have emerged during the roughly year he spent outside prison before the attack.

Reporting from the neighborhood where he may have lived painted a picture of a relatively quiet household.

Multiple generations live in the upscale three-level red-brick townhouse, according to neighbors. They said the family is known to host at least one large gathering a year, often with loud music.

A sign posted on Jalloh’s family’s front door read, “We do not wish to speak to the press!”

After CNN knocked on the door, a middle-aged man answered and reiterated the family did not want to speak to reporters.

“We really don’t want to speak to the media. Please understand we’re going through a very tough time,” he said.

He did not confirm whether Jalloh lived there.

Neighbors told reporters the family largely kept to themselves.

Kenneth Brown, who lives in the neighborhood, told CNN he would occasionally see Jalloh walking around the area.

“He would look down and not acknowledge you,” Brown said.

How the attack at Old Dominion unfolded

Authorities say the violence unfolded late Thursday morning inside Constant Hall, the main building for Old Dominion University’s College of Business.

Old Dominion, a public university with about 24,000 students, is located in Norfolk, Virginia, roughly 200 miles southeast of Washington, DC.

Investigators say Jalloh entered a class or meeting attended by ROTC students and active-duty service members at the university.

He asked people in the room twice to confirm it was an ROTC event, according to court documents.

Moments later, authorities say he shouted “Allahu Akbar,” an Arabic phrase meaning “God is greatest,” and opened fire.

The phrase “Allahu Akbar” is a central expression in Islam and is recited many times during Muslims’ five daily prayers. It is commonly used by Muslims around the world in everyday life to praise God in moments of gratitude, joy and celebration, such as hearing good news or marking milestones and also in times of hardship as a reminder that faith is greater than any challenge.

Religious scholars and community leaders have long noted that extremist groups have at times misappropriated the phrase during acts of violence, a use that stands in stark contrast to its deeply spiritual meaning within the faith.

When Jalloh began shooting, the group of students in the room quickly reacted, rushing the attacker and managing to subdue him, Evans said.

“Brave ROTC members in that room subdued him, and if not for them, I’m not sure what else he may have done,” Evans said.

One of the students stabbed Jalloh, according to multiple law enforcement sources briefed on the case. The attacker’s ultimate cause of death is unclear.

Police said the first calls reporting the shooting came in at 10:43 a.m. Officers arrived four minutes later, and by 10:50 a.m., authorities determined the attacker was dead.

Old Dominion student Zachary Mulder said he had just left a class in Constant Hall and was reading in another building when people suddenly rushed in yelling there was a shooter.

“My heart dropped,” Mulder told CNN affiliate WTKR. “I didn’t really know what was going on. I just knew I had to leave immediately.”

Investigators later said the firearm used in Thursday’s attack had been purchased illegally. Prosecutors say the person who sold the weapon told authorities that Jalloh claimed he needed it for protection while working as a delivery driver.

Kenya Mcchell Chapman was arrested Friday in connection to his sale of a pistol to Jalloh.

A cellphone recovered near Jalloh’s body allowed law enforcement to retrace his recent movements, according to court filings. Investigators say he repeatedly traveled between several locations in Virginia in the days leading up to the attack, including his home, the university campus, another residence and an Islamic center.

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