A deadly shooting at a Virginia university is now being treated as a terror attack, according to the FBI.
Mohamed Bailor Jalloh launched an attack at Old Dominion University, killing one and injuring two more before being subdued and killed by a group of students.
He shouted “Allahu Akbar” before the shooting on Thursday morning, Dominique Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Norfolk field office, told reporters.
The students’ actions “undoubtedly saved lives along with the quick response of law enforcement”, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post, adding that the shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism.
Police said officers responded within 10 minutes after receiving reports that people were being shot in one of the classrooms in the university’s business school building.
They said the injured victims, who are both affiliated with the university, were taken to hospital after the shooting where one was in a critical condition.
The cause of death of the attacker is yet to be established.
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Jalloh, a former member of the Army National Guard, was convicted of providing material support to ISIS after pleading guilty in 2016, the FBI said.
He was given an 11-year sentence but released in December 2024.
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A court affidavit recounts a three-month sting operation in 2016 in which Jalloh said he was thinking about carrying out an attack similar to the 2009 shootings at Fort Hood, which left 13 people dead.
Jalloh made contact with members of ISIS in Africa – one of whom was an informant for the FBI.
He later tried to buy an AR-15 assault rifle from a Virginia gun store but was turned away because he lacked the proper paperwork.
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The affidavit says he returned the next day and bought a different assault rifle.
Prosecutors said the rifle was rendered inoperable before Jalloh left the store. He was arrested the following day.
Prosecutors requested a 20-year prison sentence for Jalloh, noting he had made multiple attempts to join the terrorist organisation and attempted to acquire a gun to carry out a murder plot in the US.
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“The defendant was fully aware of what he was doing, and the consequences of those actions,” prosecutors said at the time.
“His only misgivings seemed to be a fear that he would waver at the critical moment.
“By putting the idea of this murder plot into religious terms, and by suggesting that murdering members of the US military would be a path to heaven, the defendant showed how strongly committed he was to the deadly ideology.”
Jalloh was instead sentenced to 11 years in prison by a district judge.
