Virginia man faces federal charges over gun sale to convicted terrorist who attacked ODU ROTC class

The United States Department of Justice charged a Virginia man on Friday, 14 March 2026, with illegally selling the firearm used in the fatal shooting at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, the day prior. Kenya Micchell Chapman was arrested and faces federal charges of making false statements during a firearm purchase and dealing in firearms without a license. The gun Chapman allegedly sold was a Glock 44 .22 caliber pistol used by Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a 36-year-old former United States Army National Guard member and convicted supporter of the Islamic State extremist group, who opened fire inside an Reserve Officers’ Training Corps classroom at the university on Thursday, 13 March 2026.

Jalloh killed Lieutenant Colonel Brandon Shah, a 42-year-old professor of military science at Old Dominion University and decorated Army veteran from Chesapeake, Virginia, who had served as a helicopter pilot in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Eastern Europe before returning to Old Dominion University in 2022 as a leader of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program. Two other people in the classroom were injured. One, who had been hospitalized in critical condition, was subsequently upgraded to fair condition by Sentara Health. The second was treated and released. Jalloh was subdued and killed by Reserve Officers’ Training Corps students inside the classroom before law enforcement arrived, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to the criminal complaint unsealed on Friday, Jalloh entered the classroom, which was attended by both active-duty service members and Reserve Officers’ Training Corps students, and twice asked individuals in the room to confirm it was a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps event before opening fire. Old Dominion University confirmed on Friday that Jalloh, a geography major originally from Sterling, Virginia, had been enrolled at the university intermittently since fall 2007 and had re-enrolled in summer 2025.

Jalloh had pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State. During proceedings in that case, Jalloh admitted to communicating with an overseas Islamic State member who introduced him to an individual in the United States who was, in fact, a Federal Bureau of Investigation confidential informant. According to his guilty plea, the Islamic State member was believed to be actively plotting an attack and believed Jalloh would assist the informant in carrying it out. Court records also indicate that during a meeting with the Federal Bureau of Investigation informant, Jalloh remarked that it was preferable to plan an attack during the month of Ramadan. Prosecutors had recommended Jalloh serve 20 years in prison. He was sentenced to 11 years, with an additional five years of supervised release, and was released from federal custody in December 2024.

As a convicted felon with a federal terrorism conviction, Jalloh was legally barred from purchasing or possessing firearms. He was subject to court-mandated probation at the time of the shooting. Court documents indicate that a probation officer visited the home Jalloh shared with his sister only every six months, with the last recorded visit taking place in November 2025.

How did investigators connect Kenya Chapman to the Old Dominion University shooting weapon?

Investigators encountered an immediate obstacle upon arriving at the scene of the shooting: the serial number on the Glock pistol Jalloh had used had been partially obliterated, which prevented authorities from tracing the weapon through standard firearm registration records. Tracing a serial number is a primary investigative step used to establish how a person subject to a firearms prohibition obtained a weapon. Unable to rely on that route, investigators turned to Jalloh’s mobile phone, which was recovered lying next to his body.

A review of the phone’s call records revealed that one number had been in frequent contact with Jalloh in the week immediately preceding the shooting. That number was traced to Kenya Micchell Chapman. Federal agents searched Chapman’s residence on the morning of Friday, 14 March 2026. Chapman initially told investigators he had found the gun in the woods. He later admitted he had stolen the weapon from a vehicle in Newport News, Virginia, approximately one year earlier, and sold it to Jalloh for one hundred United States dollars within the week before the shooting. Chapman stated he did not know Jalloh was a convicted felon. He told agents that Jalloh had informed him he needed the firearm for protection while working as a delivery driver.

Chapman was not unknown to federal law enforcement at the time of the arrest. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had previously investigated Chapman in 2021 for straw purchasing firearms, a practice in which an individual purchases a firearm on behalf of another person who is legally prohibited from doing so. Following that investigation, Chapman was issued a formal straw purchaser warning letter by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and subsequently submitted a written letter of apology acknowledging the conduct.

The charges Chapman now faces carry a maximum penalty of 35 years in federal prison if convicted. The United States Department of Justice noted that a criminal complaint is merely an accusation and that the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Norfolk Field Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Washington Field Division. Prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Luke Bresnahan and Rebecca Gantt for the Eastern District of Virginia.

What is the background of the Islamic State conviction that barred Jalloh from owning a firearm?

Mohamed Bailor Jalloh’s federal terrorism case dates to 2016, when he pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State. Jalloh had served as a member of the United States Army National Guard before his arrest. His guilty plea established that he had been in communication with an overseas Islamic State operative who connected him to an individual in the United States under the belief that person would assist in carrying out a domestic attack. That individual was an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation confidential informant. Jalloh was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison and placed under five years of supervised release upon completion of his sentence.

Jalloh was released from the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons in December 2024, before completing the full term of his original 11-year sentence. Early release before the expiration of a full custodial term is not unusual in the federal prison system. According to reports citing the Associated Press, Jalloh completed a drug rehabilitation program, which contributed to his early release. The Federal Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the circumstances of his release. His supervised release and probation placed him under continuing legal obligations, including periodic check-ins with a probation officer, though court documents indicate the supervision was infrequent in the months before the attack.

What is the significance of the Old Dominion University shooting in the context of domestic terrorism and US gun law enforcement?

The shooting at Old Dominion University occurred against a backdrop of heightened domestic security concern in the United States. The Federal Bureau of Investigation had separately warned prior to the attack that Iranian operatives may be planning drone-based attacks on targets in California, following the commencement of United States and Israeli military operations against Iran on 28 February 2026. At a news conference held the day of the Old Dominion University shooting, the special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Norfolk Field Office, Dominique Evans, was asked directly whether the attack bore any connection to the ongoing United States-Iran-Israel conflict. Evans stated there was none.

The attack has also drawn scrutiny to the adequacy of post-incarceration supervision for individuals convicted of terrorism-related offenses in the United States. Jalloh’s ability to obtain a firearm despite a federal felony disqualification, active probation conditions, and a terrorism conviction has raised questions about the frequency and rigor of supervision for released federal terrorism convicts. The case involving Chapman and the prior Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives warning letter he received without subsequent prosecution has similarly prompted attention to the effectiveness of firearm sale enforcement mechanisms when an individual has a documented history of straw purchasing.

Lieutenant Colonel Brandon Shah, the victim who died in the attack, was remembered by Old Dominion University President Brian Hemphill and the United States Army Cadet Command as a dedicated military leader and family man. Shah had originally attended Old Dominion University as a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps student and returned to the university in 2022 to lead the program. He is survived by a spouse and a child.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that Chapman allegedly stole a firearm and illegally sold it to a convicted terrorist who murdered a decorated American veteran, and that Chapman would face the full weight of justice. Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel stated that the Bureau’s Norfolk Field Office and its partners had worked continuously in the hours following the attack to identify and charge those responsible.

Key takeaways: Old Dominion University ROTC shooting, Kenya Chapman arrest, and federal firearms charges

• Kenya Micchell Chapman was charged on 14 March 2026 by the United States Department of Justice with making false statements during a firearm purchase and dealing in firearms without a license in connection with the sale of a Glock 44 .22 caliber pistol to Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, the gunman in the Old Dominion University shooting in Norfolk, Virginia.
• Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a 36-year-old former United States Army National Guard member convicted in 2016 of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, was legally barred from possessing firearms. He was released from federal custody in December 2024 and was under court-mandated supervised release at the time of the attack.
• Lieutenant Colonel Brandon Shah, 42, a professor of military science and Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program leader at Old Dominion University and decorated Army combat veteran, was killed in the attack. Two others were injured, one critically. Jalloh was subdued and killed by Reserve Officers’ Training Corps students in the classroom.
• Investigators identified Chapman through call records on Jalloh’s phone after the firearm’s serial number was found to have been partially obliterated. Chapman admitted to stealing the weapon in Newport News, Virginia, approximately one year before selling it to Jalloh for one hundred United States dollars.
• Chapman had previously been subject to a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigation in 2021 for straw purchasing firearms and had been issued a formal warning letter. The case has drawn renewed scrutiny to firearms enforcement and post-conviction supervision of terrorism offenders in the United States.