Old Dominion University Shooter, Convicted of Islamic State Links, Released From Prison Only 2 Years Before Attack

Documents from the court show that less than two year after Mohamed Bailor Jalloh had been released from prison on charges of attempting to help the Islamic State, opened up in a class before ROTC students were able to subdue and kill him.

After the shooting, which left one dead and two others injured, questions have been raised about Jalloh’s imprisonment and conditions of his release. Some elected officials are questioning why someone who has known links to the Islamic State could carry out an attack.

The U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans who represents the congressional districts that border the university wrote on Facebook: “The horrifying tragedy that occurred on Old Dominion University’s Campus today never should have happened.”

Jalloh, who pleaded guilty to providing material assistance to a designated terrorist group (the Islamic State), in October 2016, was sentenced by a federal court in 2017 to 11 years in prison with retroactive credit for the time he served since his arrest in July 2016.

Jalloh will be released from federal custody on December 23, 2024. His release was not immediately known. It is not known if this happened. Inmates may be granted time off their sentences for various reasons.

When he committed the attack on Friday, he was on supervised released, which is similar to probation. According to his release date, this would have lasted until 2029.

Undercover agents confess to crimes

Jalloh entered his plea in October 2016 after a three month sting operation, during which he confessed, undercover, to an FBI agent, that he had been considering committing an attack similar to those of 2009 at Fort Hood which resulted in the deaths of 13 people. The 2016 operation was launched after Jalloh had made contact with Islamic State in Africa earlier in the year.

Jalloh told the informant later that the Islamic State had asked him if he would like to take part in an attack. According to court documents, he tried to donate $500, but it went to a bank account controlled by FBI.

Jalloh tried to purchase an AR-15 assault weapon from a Virginia firearms store, but was refused because he did not have the required paperwork. According to the affidavit, Jalloh returned the following day and purchased a different assault weapon. The rifle had been rendered inoperable by the prosecutors before Jalloh even left the shop, which he was unaware of. He was arrested on the next day.

Debate over sentencing

In 2017, the Justice Department requested that Jalloh be sentenced to 20 years in prison, citing his multiple attempts to join Islamic State as well as his attempt to obtain a gun for a murder plan.

The defendant knew exactly what he did and the consequences. In a memorandum on sentencing, prosecutors said that his only concern was that he might waver in the crucial moment.

The statement continued: “By putting this murder plot in religious terms and suggesting that killing members of the US Military would be a pathway to heaven, he showed how deeply committed he was” to the deadly ideologies of the Islamic State.

Jalloh’s lawyers requested a sentence for 6 1/2 years and that he was placed in an institution that offers residential drug treatment to inmates who have addiction or substance abuse issues.

U.S. district judge Liam O’Grady – an appointee by former president George W. Bush – sentenced him to 11 years of prison instead.

The judge ordered Jalloh, to take part in a substance abuse treatment program and mental health program. He also requested that Jalloh be evaluated for a residential drug program within the federal prison system.

According to the federal Bureau of Prisons, completing the Residential Drug Abuse Program could reduce a prisoner’s sentence by as much as a year. Jalloh’s eligibility for the program was not immediately known. Inmates who are serving time for terrorist-related crimes are not eligible.

Some inmates can also reduce their sentences by earning up 54 days for good behavior time per year they are in prison. Inmates convicted of terrorist-related crimes are not eligible to receive such credit under the First Step Act.

Troubled shooter attracted by radical cleric

Jalloh is a naturalized Sierra Leonean citizen who has been little known to the public. Court documents portray him as a troubled individual who was radicalized Anwar al-Awlaki a well-known American Imam who became a al-Qaida propaganda propagandist.

Virginia Army National Guard confirmed that he served from 2009 to 2015 as a specialist, and was then honorably discharged. According to an FBI affidavit in 2016, Jalloh admitted to a government source that he left the National Guard following lectures by al-Awlaki.

Jalloh expressed his regret to the federal judge who presided over Jalloh’s sentencing: “I am deeply sorry for having let my emotions and not my intellect drive me into joining such an evil group.” I deplore and reject terrorism, and all groups that are associated with it. This includes ISIL.

He said that he began using drugs when his girlfriend broke up with him after a six-year relationship.

Jalloh wrote: “The pain that I felt inside was unbearable. Alcohol and drugs were the only thing that could take it away.” “I began using marijuana, coke and mushroom at least once a day to relieve the pain and fill the void that I felt inside.”

The letter remains sealed, but the lawyer used excerpts from it in his sentencing memo.

Email the Norfolk City Council:
Kenneth Alexander, mayor@norfolk.gov,
Martin Thomas, martin.thomas@norfolk.gov,
Courtney Doyle, courtney.doyle@norfolk.gov,
Mamie Johnson, mamie.johnson@norfolk.gov,
John Paige, john.paige@norfolk.gov,
Thomas Smigiel, thomas.smigiel@norfolk.gov,
Jeremy McGee, jeremy.mcgee@norfolk.gov,
Carlos Clanton, carlos.clanton@norfolk.gov,

Email the Norfolk School Board:
Tiffany Moore-Buffaloe, tiffany.buffaloe@nps.k12.va.us,
Sarah DiCalogero, sarah.dicalogero@nps.k12.va.us,
Tanya Bhasin, tbhasin@nps.k12.va.us,
Adale Martin, amartin@nps.k12.va.us,
Kenneth Paulson, ken.paulson@nps.k12.va.us,
Jodi Slaughter, jodi.slaughter@nps.k12.va.us,
Alfreda Thomas, alfreda.thomas@nps.k12.va.us,