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Senior military leaders and enlisted men awarded eight Meritorious Service Medals and Purple Hearts to the Old Dominion University ROTC cadets who stopped the March 12 gunman later identified by the FBI as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former National Guardsman who was convicted of supporting the Islamic State.
In a private ceremony this week, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll and Sgt. Maj. Army Capt. Michael Weimer honored the cadets for their actions during an attack during an ROTC class, according to the US Army Cadet Command on Facebook. The names of the cadets have been withheld for confidentiality.
Authorities said the cadets overpowered him and killed Jalloh after opening fire, killing a professor of military science Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, 42, and injured two others during the attack in their classroom at Old Dominion in Norfolk, Virginia.
One student was hospitalized in critical condition, while another was treated and released after being killed.
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Sergeant Major of the Army Michael R. Weimer and Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll presented awards to Old Dominion University Army ROTC cadets, recognizing their bravery and sacrifice during a classroom shooting earlier in the month. (Ian Ives / US Army)
The Purple Heart is awarded to members of the US Armed Forces who are wounded, killed or die of wounds received in combat, while a prisoner of war, or in action against enemy forces.
The Meritorious Service Medal is the non-combat service equivalent of the Bronze Star.
It is not clear how many students were in the classroom at the time of the shooting, which the FBI described as an act of terrorism, recommending the intervention of students to prevent further injuries.
“There were students in that room that took him down, and, uh, they didn’t make it out alive,” according to Dominique Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Norfolk office, in the words of a news conference that expressed American pride on social media.
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Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll honored eight cadets from Old Dominion University’s Army ROTC program with Meritorious Service Medals and two were awarded Purple Hearts for their bravery, service and courage in “destroying” an ISIS terrorist attacker. (Ian Ives / US Army)
“I don’t know how else to say it,” Evans said. “They were actually able to eliminate the threat.”
They act bravely without guns.
Jalloh “wasn’t shot,” he added, as reports suggest the cadets killed the ISIS-linked assassin by stabbing him to death.
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Jalloh’s ability to carry out ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks in the US after President Donald Trump launched military strikes on Iran is the work of former President Joe Biden’s Justice Department’s crackdown on terrorists.
Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll shakes hands with Old Dominion University Army ROTC cadets after awarding them eight Meritorious Service Medals and two Purple Hearts during a private ceremony Sunday. (Ian Ives / US Army)
Jalloh pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to support ISIS and was released from custody in December 2024 to supervised probation, which failed to prevent attacks.
He was released about 2 1/2 years before that completing a drug treatment programa person familiar with the matter told the AP. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity.
It is unclear how Jalloh qualifies for the program, which allows inmates to shave up to a year off their sentences. Prisoners serving sentences for terrorism-related offenses are generally not eligible for such programs or other sentence reduction credits.
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Old Dominion University Police Chief, Garrett Shelton, said less than ten minutes passed when police were called to a shooting incident in the university’s business school building and when responders discovered the shooter was dead.
“The shooter is now dead because of a group of brave students who stepped in and took him down – actions that undoubtedly saved lives and the quick response of law enforcement,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on March 12 in X.
Three members of the US Army ROTC program at Old Dominion were injured, including one who died. Jalloh had also served. The naturalized American citizen from Sierra Leone was a specialist in the Virginia Army National Guard from 2009 until 2015, when he was honorably discharged.
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Shah, 42, was the university’s military science professor and ODU ROTC alumnus who returned in 2022 to lead the program.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
