Brave ROTC students credited with stopping deadly classroom shooting at Old Dominion

Officials praised the brave actions of ROTC students who confronted a gunman Thursday after he opened fire in a classroom on the campus of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, killing one person and injuring two others. 

CBS News learned that one of the students in the classroom killed the gunman with a knife. 

The FBI identified the suspect as 36-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Virginia National Guardsman who had served several years in federal prison for trying to support the terror group ISIS. Thursday’s shooting is being investigated as terrorism, FBI officials said.

A law enforcement source told CBS News the gunman entered the College of Business classroom, asked if it was an ROTC class, and when told yes, began shooting, killing the class instructor and wounding two others before he was “subdued” by students.  

“The brave ROTC members in that room subdued him, and if not for them, I’m not sure, you know, what else he may have done,” Dominique Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Office, told reporters Thursday. 

Evans said the students “rendered him no longer alive, I don’t know how else to say it, they basically were able to terminate the threat,” but noted that the suspect himself was not shot.

“The shooter is now deceased thanks to a group of brave students who stepped in and subdued him – actions that undoubtedly saved lives along with the quick response of law enforcement,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on social media.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger on social media later identified the deceased instructor as Lt. Col. Brandon Shah. 

“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,” Spanberger wrote of Shah.

She also thanked “the brave students, first responders, and law enforcement officers who responded quickly to today’s horrific attack.”

The two people injured have not been identified. One was last reported to be in critical condition, and the second was treated and released from an area hospital.

CBS News has also reached out to Old Dominion University’s Army ROTC program for comment on the attack.

Investigators believe the suspect was only carrying one weapon, Evans said, and no explosives or weaponry have been found in his car or other locations. Investigators have found no evidence pointing to the war in the Middle East as a possible motive, Evans said.

“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 told reporters.   

The suspect pleaded guilty in October 2016 to attempting to provide material support to the terror group ISIS. In 2017, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison, but was released early, in December 2024, according to records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The Virginia National Guard said in a statement to CBS News that Jalloh served as a combat engineer in the Virginia National Guard from April 30, 2009, to April 29, 2015, when he was honorably discharged. He held the rank of specialist and served in the 276th Engineer Battalion, 91st Troop Command.

A U.S. Army official also confirmed to CBS News that Jalloh had no deployments and left the Army with the rank of specialist.