One person has died and two others were injured at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, in a shooting that the FBI is investigating as an act of terrorism.
The suspect was also killed in the incident on Thursday.
The FBI identified the alleged gunman as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Virginia National Guard member who had previously been jailed for trying to support the Islamic State group.
Jalloh allegedly opened fire into a classroom and some students were able to subdue and kill him, said Dominique Evans, Special Agent in Charge of the Norfolk FBI field office, at a news conference.
The students “subdued him, and rendered him no longer alive”, she said, adding that he was not shot, without providing further details.
They were members of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) programme, which combines college coursework with military leadership training.
Officers first responded to reports of a shooting inside a classroom in Constant Hall, the university’s business school building, university police chief Garrett Shelton said on Thursday afternoon.
When the suspect walked in, he asked if it was an ROTC class, and after someone answered in the affirmative, he opened fire, law enforcement sources told the BBC’s US partner CBS News.
When officers arrived, they found that the gunman was already dead, Shelton said.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the shooter died “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”.
Three people in the room were shot, one of whom later died of their injuries in hospital, officials said.
Two of the victims were Army personnel, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said on social media.
“I’m praying for them and all those impacted by this terrible event,” Driscoll said.
CBS News reported that the victim who was killed was the class instructor, a retired military officer.
In 2016, Jalloh was arrested and pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group, the FBI’s Evans said.
He was sentenced in 2017 and was released from prison in 2024, she said. When asked what kind of aid Jalloh was giving to the IS group back then, Evans said he had wanted to conduct a terrorist attack similar to the 2009 attack at a military base in Fort Hood, Texas, that killed 13 people.
Evans said Thursday’s shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism because of the suspect’s prior conviction and because he allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar”, an Arabic phrase that means “God is greater”, before the incident.
There was no mention of the war in Iran, Evans said.
The shooting came hours before another incident in Michigan, where a vehicle rammed into a synagogue and school.
There, all children and staff were safely evacuated and one security guard was injured but is expected to recover, authorities have said.
By BBC News
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