Early Prison Release Loophole Allowed Terrorism Convict to Carry Out Deadly ODU Shooting
By ObxLedger
Published Mar 14, 2026
4 min read
A man who carried out a deadly shooting inside a classroom at Old Dominion University should still have been in federal prison.
Instead, a bureaucratic loophole allowed him to walk free nearly three years early.
Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, the gunman in Thursday’s attack at the Norfolk university, had previously pleaded guilty to providing material support to the Islamic State terrorist group. In 2017, federal prosecutors argued he posed a serious threat and sought a 20-year prison sentence. A judge ultimately sentenced him to 11 years.
But Jalloh did not serve the full sentence.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, he was released in December 2024 — about two and a half years early — after completing a substance-abuse treatment program designed to reduce sentences for certain inmates.
The problem: Jalloh was not supposed to qualify.
Under federal law, inmates convicted of terrorism-related offenses are not eligible for sentence reductions through programs like the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP). Yet Jalloh was able to take advantage of the program anyway due to a loophole in how excluded crimes were defined and enforced.
The Bureau of Prisons acknowledged Friday that the policy failure allowed his early release. Officials say the loophole has since been closed.
“Not one inmate with terrorism-related charges has received time credit” from the program since the policy was changed, the agency said.
That change came too late.
Jalloh, a former Virginia Army National Guard member who had been taking online classes at Old Dominion University, opened fire inside a classroom Thursday. One person was killed and two others were wounded before ROTC students confronted and killed him.
At the time of the attack, Jalloh was still under federal supervision. He had been released from custody on Dec. 23, 2024, and remained on supervised release that would have lasted until 2029.
Records show he had been incarcerated at a low-security federal prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, before being transferred to a halfway house in the Baltimore area in August 2024 as part of the reentry process.
A probation officer reportedly visited Jalloh’s home in Sterling, Virginia every six months, most recently in November.
Now, many are asking how someone with a documented history of terrorist activity was able to return to society early — and carry out a deadly attack.
U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, whose congressional district neighbors the university, said the tragedy never should have happened.
“The horrific tragedy that occurred today on ODU’s campus never should have happened,” she wrote.
Jalloh’s path to prison began in 2016 after the FBI launched a sting operation when he contacted members of the Islamic State group in Africa. During the investigation, he told an undercover agent he had considered carrying out an attack similar to the 2009 Fort Hood shooting.
He also attempted to purchase an AR-15 rifle from a Virginia gun store during the investigation.
When he later pleaded guilty to providing material support to ISIS, prosecutors warned the court that Jalloh had repeatedly attempted to join the terrorist organization and had tried to obtain weapons to carry out an attack.
Despite those warnings, his lawyers argued for a much lighter sentence and pushed for placement in drug treatment programs.
Court filings show Jalloh claimed he had turned to drugs after a breakup and expressed regret for his involvement with ISIS. In a letter to the judge, he wrote that he rejected terrorism and blamed emotional pain for his past actions.
The judge ordered substance-abuse and mental-health treatment as part of his sentence.
Completing the federal prison system’s drug treatment program can shorten a sentence by up to a year. Additional time reductions can also come from good-conduct credits.
But inmates convicted of terrorism offenses were supposed to be excluded from those benefits under the 2018 First Step Act.
In Jalloh’s case, the rules failed.
Officials now say the loophole that allowed the early release has been closed, but critics say the damage is already done.
One person is dead, two others were wounded, and a convicted terrorism offender who should have still been behind bars was instead able to carry out an attack on a Virginia university campus.
