Old Dominion University Cadets Describe How They Stopped ODU Shooter
old dominion university is at the center of a new public account from the Army ROTC cadets who subdued and killed shooter Mohamed Bailor Jalloh after he opened fire in a March 12 class at Constant Hall in Norfolk, Virginia. In a 17-minute video posted Wednesday night, several cadets described the fast-moving attack, the moment gunfire began, and the split-second choice they made to rush toward the gunman. Their instructor, Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, was killed and two others were injured.
What the cadets said happened inside the classroom
The cadets said the class had been moving through a normal day of presentations when Jalloh walked in and asked whether it was an ROTC class or a seminar. Louis Ancheta said he did not think much of the question at first, while Samuel Reineberg said Jalloh sounded nervous. After a cadet answered that it was an ROTC class, Shah nodded.
Wesley Myers said Jalloh then reached toward his waistbelt, shouted “Allahu akbar, ” and began firing toward Lt. Col. Shah. Most of the cadets hit the floor immediately, and some hid under desks. But Ancheta said he pulled out a pocket knife and ran at Jalloh as Shah wrestled with him upright. “I just go in there, I just start stabbing him, ” Ancheta said. “As I’m stabbing him, other cadets jump in. ”
How the struggle turned into a fight to control the gun
Jeremy Rawlinson said he saw another cadet jump over a table to help, and he decided he had to join in. “Well if he’s going, I gotta back him, ” Rawlinson said. Myers said multiple cadets joined the struggle, with some stabbing Jalloh, some punching him, and others trying to control the weapon. Myers said he got the gun away from Jalloh and dropped an empty magazine.
Ancheta, who earned a Purple Heart for his actions during the shooting, said he was shot but barely felt it in the moment. He said a stray shot passed over his shoulder and then he was hit, but it felt more like a graze. He said he kept moving because he believed he could still help stop the attack.
Immediate reactions from the cadets
The public video marked the first time any of the cadets spoke openly about what the FBI called a terrorist attack in Constant Hall. The account they gave was raw and direct, focused on the confusion of the first seconds and the urgency that followed once gunfire started.
Oshea Bego said it was supposed to be a routine class day and “probably the one day we stayed the entire class period. ” That detail underscored how ordinary the setting had seemed before the attack changed everything in moments.
What happens next at Old Dominion University
The cadets’ testimony now stands as the clearest public description yet of how the attack unfolded and how it ended. The account also places old dominion university in a wider conversation about campus violence, even as the details remain tied to the specific facts of March 12 in Constant Hall.
With the cadets speaking publicly for the first time, attention is likely to stay on their account of the attack, the loss of Lt. Col. Shah, and the injuries that followed. For old dominion university, the next developments will likely center on how the campus remembers the shooting and how this rare firsthand account shapes the public record.
