NORFOLK, Va. — The group of Army ROTC cadets who subdued and killed Old Dominion University shooter Mohamed Bailor Jalloh after he opened hearth on the class on March 12 say a number of of them wrestled him to the floor and stabbed him to demise.
Several of the college students appeared in a 17-minute video posted to the Army ROTC’s YouTube web page Wednesday night time — the first time any of them have spoken publicly about what the FBI known as a terrorist assault in Constant Hall.
Their teacher, Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, was killed in the taking pictures, and two others have been injured.
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A standard day
Louis Ancheta, certainly one of the cadets who earned a purple coronary heart for his actions throughout the taking pictures, mentioned it was only a regular day of shows at school.
“It was probably the one day we stayed the entire class period,” cadet Oshea Bego mentioned.
Their teacher, Lt. Col Brandon Shah, was about to allow them to out of sophistication when Jalloh walked into the room and requested if it was an ROTC class or a seminar.
ROTC cadets awarded medals for actions in ODU taking pictures
“Someone came in, just some random Joe,” Ancheta mentioned. “I wasn’t thinking about what that question really meant.”
Samuel Reineberg mentioned Jalloh sounded nervous. After nobody spoke up, he requested once more. A cadet mentioned it was, and Shah nodded.
“He reached down into his waistbelt… and shouted Allahu akbar and began shooting in the direction of Lt. Col. Shah,” cadet Wesley Myers mentioned.
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Taking cowl
Most of the cadets mentioned they hit the floor as quickly as they heard gunshots, with some hiding underneath their desks. But Ancheta mentioned he pulled out his pocket knife and ran in direction of Jalloh instantly, who was wrestling with Lt. Col. Shah.
“With my pocket knife, I open it, I run up and as I’m running up, Colonel Shah lunges at the guy, and starts wrestling with him upright,” Ancheta mentioned.
Jalloh shot a stray over Ancheta’s shoulder, after which shot him, however he mentioned barely felt it.
“It really didn’t feel like it hit me. It felt like a graze. After that, I’m like I can keep on going,” Ancheta mentioned. “I just go in there, I just start stabbing him. As I’m stabbing him, other cadets jump in.”
Jeremy Rawlinson mentioned as he was getting up from the floor, he noticed one cadet soar over a desk to assist Ancheta and Shah, and Rawlinson knew he had to assist.
“I said to myself, ‘Well if he’s going, I gotta back him,'” Rawlinson mentioned.
Multiple cadets joined him, based on Myers. Some stabbed Jalloh, some punched him, some wrestled along with his gun. Myers acquired the gun away from Jalloh and dropped an empty journal.
Ancheta mentioned he began to really feel some ache as soon as he put his pocket knife away.
“I’m like, “Guys, are you able to get off me? I feel I’ve been shot'”, Ancheta mentioned.
Myers instantly began performing first help, and Ancheta pulled out his telephone and informed him to name his mother. That was once they observed Shah was injured.
He fell onto the wall, and Reineberg caught him on the method down. He had a gunshot on his proper thigh, and the cadets made a tourniquet with a belt. One cadet known as the ODU’s chief of police, and one other led rounds of legislation enforcement to the room.
SWAT arrives
SWAT officers took over first help on Shah as soon as they arrived, and put a chest seal on Ancheta. Both went into surgical procedure as soon as they arrived at the hospital, and the different cadets have been interviewed at the police station.
Cecilia Osso mentioned they knew somebody had died, however didn’t know who. She solely discovered it was Shah after calling an academy member. Other cadets mentioned they discovered as soon as they acquired again dwelling.
“He’s a hero. He lunged at him, just wrestled with him, tried to save us,” Ancheta mentioned.
Multiple cadets mentioned that Shah’s steering was the purpose they have been ready do what they did in the second.
Jah-ire Urtarte, who was sitting in the entrance row proper close to the door, mentioned he wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for Shah.
“If he didn’t lunge at him, you know, I wouldn’t be here right now,” Urtate mentioned. “There’s a possibility he could have turned his gun, and I could’ve been next.”
Police and hearth on scene at intersection close to ODU
Terrorist assault investigation
The FBI held a press convention hours after the taking pictures the place the Norfolk area workplace was investigating it as a terrorist assault.
Jalloh had beforehand been convicted of giving materials assist to ISIS, generally known as ISIL at the time, and served about eight years of an 11-year sentence, court docket data present.
Court paperwork from his 2016 conviction confirmed Jalloh despatched cash to folks affiliated with ISIL, and shared data to a confidential informant about his want to commit an assault like the 2009 taking pictures at Fort Hood.
Jalloh was launched from jail two-and-a-half years early and enrolled as a pupil at ODU in the summer season of 2025 — seven months earlier than he attacked the classroom in Constant Hall.
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The aftermath
In the weeks after the taking pictures, the ODU Faculty Senate — which had beforehand expressed its emotions about President Brian Hemphill in a vote of no confidence — has raised issues about security issues at Constant Hall and on campus.
The senate resurfaced a 2024 e mail from an teacher who wrote to Hemphill about security issues in Constant Hall, the constructing that homes the Strome School of Business.
The teacher mentioned they feared a shooter would haven’t any barrier to accessing their school rooms.
In response, the ODU Board of Visitors issued a robust rebuke, suggesting the Senate was attempting to make use of a terrorist assault to additional its political motives in opposition to President Hemphill.
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