Old Dominion University says it was never warned by federal authorities that a returning student who later carried out a deadly campus terror attack had previously been convicted in an ISIS-related case.
Mohamed Bailor Jalloh allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” on March 12 before opening fire inside an ROTC classroom at the Virginia university. The attack killed an Army veteran who was teaching the class and wounded two students before ROTC members intervened and fatally subdued him.
Jalloh had been convicted in 2016 of trying to provide material support to the Islamic State, in connection with a plot that targeted U.S. military personnel.
Despite that record, ODU said it received no alert from Jalloh’s federal probation officer, the FBI, or any state or federal agency before he reenrolled at the school.
Mohamed Bailor Jalloh served in the Army National Guard before carrying out the March 12, 2026, shooting at Old Dominion University. (The Intercept)
An independent report concluded that the university likely would have moved to remove Jalloh from campus had officials known about his past conviction, especially because of the potential danger he posed to students and staff connected to the military.
The FBI told News Outlet on Thursday that it is not the agency tasked with notifying colleges and universities about an individual’s criminal background.
“The FBI does not serve as a notification authority for colleges or universities regarding an individual’s criminal history; that is a shared responsibility across state, local, federal and community partners,” the bureau said.
Additionally, the bureau noted that Jalloh’s terrorism-related convictions were widely publicized by the Department of Justice in 2016 and 2017, with at least three press releases detailing his case still available on the agency’s website.
“Furthermore, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia issued several press releases and publicly available information, including a press release when Jalloh was sentenced in 2017 for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization,” the agency said.
“The release remains on the Department of Justice website and can be found through an internet search with multiple links available.”
ODU said that, under Virginia law enacted in 2022, public universities are prohibited from asking applicants about their criminal history during the admissions process.
In compliance with the law, ODU said it removed criminal history questions from its applications, leaving the university dependent on voluntary student disclosures or outside law enforcement notifications.
Under Jalloh’s federal supervised release, his probation officer reportedly had the authority to require him to disclose his criminal record to third parties.
However, no such notification was provided to any university office or campus police, according to the report.
“Given that Virginia law requires universities to rely on student self-disclosure, it is even more important that other law enforcement agencies ensure that information that universities need to know to safeguard their students is shared with universities. This critical failure led to tragic consequences here,” the ODU report said.
Jalloh also never voluntarily disclosed his 2016 federal terrorism conviction to ODU, according to the report.
Mohamed Bailor Jalloh was identified as the shooter at Old Dominion University March 12, 2026. (AP Photo)
While Virginia law allows public universities to inquire about criminal history after an applicant is admitted, ODU’s policy at the time only sent post-admission background questionnaires to first-time students, excluding readmitted returning students such as Jalloh.
According to the campus report, Jalloh first enrolled at ODU as an undergraduate student in 2007. After being academically suspended in 2010, he was readmitted in 2011 after serving in the Army National Guard.
He briefly took classes through spring 2012 before stopping for unknown reasons and was later convicted on federal terrorism charges in 2016.
He then served eight years in prison before being released in December 2024. Afterward, Jalloh applied for readmission as a returning student and was re-enrolled at ODU in 2025.
After Jalloh’s case exposed a gap in the university’s post-admission screening policies, ODU said it officially expanded its post-admission criminal history questionnaire to include readmitted students alongside first-time students.
Lt. Col. Brandon Shah was killed in the deadly shooting at Old Dominion University March 12. (Old Dominion University)
Additionally, the report said nothing else on Jalloh’s readmission application raised any concerns.
Jalloh’s application reportedly listed a private residential address in Sterling, Virginia, rather than a federal prison address. Two professors who taught him in the months before the attack also reported no behavioral concerns.
The United States Probation and Pretrial Services Eastern District of Virginia did not immediately respond to a request for comment from News Outlet.
