In a grave incident that unfolded at Old Dominion University in Virginia, a shooting has left the community in mourning. The tragic events saw one person lose their life and two others injured, all of which transpired a day before charges were filed against a Virginia man accused of supplying the firearm used in the attack.
The shooter, identified as 36-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, was stopped and ultimately killed by ROTC students at the university on Thursday. During his assault, Jalloh opened fire in a classroom, tragically ending the life of ROTC instructor Lt. Col. Brandon Shah before being subdued.
In the aftermath, on Friday, legal proceedings began against Kenya Chapman, who now faces charges for allegedly making false statements in the sale of a firearm to a convicted felon. According to a criminal complaint, as reported by Fox News, Chapman had illicitly provided the weapon to Jalloh.
Details from an affidavit filed by an FBI agent revealed that Chapman had stolen the .22-caliber gun a year prior to the shooting and sold it to Jalloh for $100 shortly before the incident. This illegal transaction highlights the troubling chain of events that led to the shooting.
Authorities had gathered swiftly at Old Dominion University following reports of an active shooter, prompting a rapid response from emergency officials and law enforcement. Images from the scene captured the tense moments as the university community dealt with the immediate aftermath.
Jalloh, a convicted felon, was not legally allowed to purchase or possess a firearm, making the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the gun a crucial part of the investigation into this tragic event.
Jalloh pleaded guilty in 2016 to providing material support for a designated terrorist organization, the Islamic State, and he was sentenced in 2017 to 11 years with credit for time served, plus five years of supervised release.
He was released from prison early in December 2024 after he completed a drug treatment program that allows inmates to get out of prison up to a year earlier.
Generally, inmates convicted of terrorism-related offenses aren’t eligible for early release programs.
Jalloh remained on supervised release when he carried out the shooting Thursday that left him dead after he was subdued by ROTC members at the school.
The FBI said the attack is being investigated as terrorism.
Mohamed Bailor Jalloh was identified as the shooter at Old Dominion University Thursday. (AP Photo)
Chapman was also investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in 2021 for three alleged straw purchases of guns, when a person claims they’re buying a gun for himself but actually plans to sell it.
All three guns were later recovered at crime scenes, including a homicide, court documents said.
The U.S. Department of Justice under the Biden administration declined to prosecute Chapman at the time, instead asking the ATF to give him a straw purchaser warning letter, according to the affidavit and a senior DOJ source.
Chapman admitted to selling the guns and wrote a letter of apology, the affidavit said.
Jalloh, 36, was a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sierra Leone who spent six years in the Virginia National Guard, multiple federal sources confirmed to Fox News.
A spokesperson with the Virginia National Guard confirmed to Fox News Digital that Jalloh served from April 30, 2009, to April 29, 2015, and he held the rank of specialist when he left with an honorable discharge.
He served in the 276th Engineer Battalion, 91st Troop Command as a combat engineer, the spokesperson added.
Lt. Col. Brandon Shah was identified as the instructor killed in Thursday’s deadly shooting at Old Dominion University. (Old Dominion University)
He was originally arrested July 3, 2016, after authorities said he tried to help procure weapons for what he believed would be an ISIS-inspired attack on U.S. soil and separately attempted to send money to support ISIS, according to the criminal complaint.
The DOJ said he was compelled to leave the U.S. military after he began listening to the online lectures of al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, adding that Jalloh “praised” the July 2015 terrorist attack in Chattanooga, Tennessee, when a gunman killed four U.S. Marines and a Navy sailor.
Jalloh also shared that he had been thinking about conducting an attack similar to the attack at Ft. Hood, Texas, in Nov. 2009, which killed 13 people and wounded 32 others.
In a letter asking a judge for leniency before his sentencing, Jalloh claimed he now rejected ISIS and hated how he had been “manipulated” by the organization.
“I reject and deplore terrorism and any groups associated with it, especially ISIL,” he wrote at the time. “I hate how I allowed myself to be manipulated and how ISIL manipulates troubled and impressionable people like me with their religious propaganda by appealing to Islamic solidarity and a skewed interpretation of selective verses from the Quran.
“I feel like a complete idiot for accepting such a superficial and dishonest interpretation of Islam and for blindly accepting what I was being told.”
Jalloh also claimed he “always had deep respect and still have respect for the American people and the American values that I pledged to serve.”
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