A shooting on the Old Dominion University campus has left students and faculty shaken, with new details emerging about the gunman's violent past and the moments of chaos that unfolded during the attack.
The shooter, identified as ODU student Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, had enrolled at the university in the summer of 2025. ODU says he was also enrolled from 2007 until 2013.
During the shooting, ROTC cadets were able to fight back against the shooter and Jalloh was pronounced dead.
Jalloh was released from prison in December 2024 after pleading guilty in 2016 to providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Records outline how he was caught in an undercover sting in which he said he wanted to carry out an attack similar to the shooting that happened at Fort Hood in 2009.
He was sentenced to 11 years but was released early after completing a drug treatment program, according to the Associated Press. It is unclear exactly why he was released early.
Gannon Daly, an ODU freshman, was in a nearby building when the shooting began.
"You could hear like a bloodcurdling scream. It didn't sound normal," Daly said.
Daly, a trained lifeguard who has undergone active shooter training, said he wanted to help those who had been shot.
"I was thinking I need to go help these people that are screaming," Daly said.
But his professor told him no.
"From the bottom of my heart I do not want you going outside," the professor can be heard saying in video from the scene.
He said his professor went into survivor mode, pulling students from the hallways and barricading the doors with tables.
Daly said he heard at least two shots during the incident.
Investigators are now working to piece together what led to the attack.
Attorney Andrew Bosse used to work for the US Attorney's Office in Norfolk. He is not connected or involved with this case but has investigated similar cases.
The case will be investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force which Bosse described as an extraordinary group of investigators.
He said determining a motive will be a key part of the inquiry — and could help establish whether Jalloh acted alone.
“Getting into the why will sometimes help you with the first question which is, is this something he did on his own or whether there others involved," Bosse said. “This is someone who was a federal felon was recently released from federal prison and obviously can’t posses a firearm and so how he got it, why he got it, all the circumstances around that are going to be something that I imagine the team will be bearing down on.”
Bosse also noted that investigators will be focused on how Jalloh obtained a firearm given his criminal history.
For students like Daly, the shooting has raised broader concerns about other attacks.
“The whole country is going through something right now,” said Daly, “I'm more scared of the terrorist organizations infiltrating our country.”
