The gunman who opened fire on the campus of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. — killing one and wounding two — was a former soldier convicted and imprisoned for supporting ISIS and on probation for the same terrorism charge.
The FBI has identified the suspect as 36-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, who was also killed in Thursday’s shooting, and the federal agency is investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism.
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Who was Mohamed Bailor Jalloh?
A former soldier who served in the Virginia National Guard from 2009 to 2015, Jalloh was a combat engineer with no deployment and honorable discharge, according to military officials cited by NBC.
Court documents reveal details of Jalloh’s activities in support of ISIS.
After his release, Jalloh traveled to his home country of Sierra Leone and communicated with a prominent online supporter of ISIL, then contacted ISIS facilitators in Africa in hopes of joining the terrorist organization’s unit in Libya.
Jalloh even boarded a truck carrying ISIS recruits to Libya in September 2015, but two months later told the terrorist group’s facilitator that he abandoned the truck midway because he was not ready to fight for ISIS.
Subsequently, in December 2015, Jalloh paid $341.04 to an ISIS facilitator to help with expenses related to sending another batch of ISIS recruits to Libya.
He eventually returned to the US from Sierra Leone, but before that he came into contact with one Abu Saad Sudani, who he knew was an ISIS figure involved in planning attacks on American soil.
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After his return to the US in January 2016, Jalloh continued to stay in touch with Sudan and continued to send money to support the terrorist group, paying $250 and $450.63 in March and June, respectively.
As Jalloh continued to discuss his interest in funding ISIS, he came into contact with an undercover FBI agent posing as a member of the terrorist group living overseas.
In June 2016, Jalloh then sent the undercover agent codes for $50 gift cards, followed by another $500 in cash.
At the time, Sudan was already planning an attack in the US that involved Jalloh and another person.
During those interactions, Jalloh said he thought about carrying out an attack — “all the time” — inspired by the 2009 mass shooting of U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hassan at Fort Hood, Texas.
Further, to demonstrate his determination to carry out the attack, Jalloh purchased a Glock 19. He also told his co-conspirators that he had a family member in North Carolina with access to an AR-15 and an AK-47.
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Then, in June 2016, Jalloh traveled to North Carolina to get the weapons and was turned down by the owner of the AK-47 when he offered to buy it.
A month later, on July 2, 2016, Jalloh purchased a Stag Arms AR-15 from a local gun store.
He was arrested the next day.
At trial, Jalloh pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 11 years in prison and five months probation, in addition to participating in a computer monitoring program.
The 36-year-old was released in 2024.
While not much is currently known about Jalloh, court documents also provide insight into his personality.
Jalloh’s defense team described the former National Guardsman’s “radical ideals” as a superficial search for identity and purpose, not a commitment to violence.
The 36-year-old’s life has been marked by “war, trauma, violence, sexual abuse and significant cultural and family dislocations”. court transcript she says, adding that he was “a bright, capable, hard-working and kind man who had a promising future before he dabbled in extremism”.
During his sentencing, Jalloh also apologized to the court, saying, “Jalloh apologized to the court, the military, and the people of the United States, saying, “Every time I see some of the atrocities that ISIS is committing, I am disgusted by it because I know this is not what I want to be a part of.
