NORFOLK, Va. (TNND) -- Law enforcement has released new details about a deadly shooting inside a classroom at Virginia's Old Dominion University (ODU) on Thursday that is being investigated as an act of terrorism.
The shooter, who is now deceased, reportedly used a gun with an "obliterated serial number," potentially complicating the investigation into how the previously convicted felon obtained the firearm.
An official who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Associated Press that investigators will attempt to restore the serial number in order to trace the gun.
The FBI identified the shooter as 36-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Virginia Army National Guard soldier who pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to aid the Islamic State extremist group, also known as ISIS.
Dominique Evans, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Norfolk field office, said Jalloh shouted "Allahu Akbar" before opening fire in a classroom Thursday morning, killing an ROTC leader and injuring two others.
Lt. Col. Brandon Shah was identified as the person killed in the shooting. He was an alumnus of the university and a decorated military veteran who served several tours in the Middle East. Shah enlisted in the Army in 2003 as an aviation operations specialist.
Media outlets reported that the two people injured are members of the school's Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps. Sentara Health confirmed one of the injured victims had been upgraded to fair condition.
Evans said "the brave ROTC members in that room subdued" Jalloh and "rendered him no longer alive."
Jalloh had been sentenced to 11 years in prison after his 2016 conviction but was released in December 2024 and placed on supervised release, according to officials. It was not immediately clear why his prison sentence was shortened.
He was a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Sierra Leone, a country on the coast of West Africa.
Authorities said there was no evidence the attack was connected to the ongoing war involving Iran, which began Feb. 28 when the United States and Israel launched military operations against the country.
At 10:48 a.m., ODU sent an alert instructing students and faculty to follow "run-hide-fight" protocols.
The university said shots were reported at Constant Hall, home to the school's College of Business, shortly before 10:49 a.m. Emergency personnel responded immediately. Classes were canceled and campus operations were suspended for at least two days.
Less than two hours after the shooting in Virginia, an explosive-laden vehicle crashed into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, in what the FBI described as a "targeted act of violence against the Jewish community."
The suspect in that incident was identified as a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen who reportedly lost family members in an Israeli strike in Lebanon.
President Donald Trump said Friday that both attacks were a "disgrace."
"They're really demented people they come into the country they came in a lot through Biden and they came in through other presidents, frankly, and it's a disgrace," a statement posted by the White House said. "It's a shame when you hear about these things. Very sad."