ISIS-Linked Shooter Attacks ROTC Class, Pentagon Luxury Food “Scandal” Explained: AM Update 3/13

A former Virginia Army National Guardsman with a prior conviction for providing material support to ISIS walked into an ROTC classroom at Old Dominion University, asked if it was an ROTC class, and opened fire. The instructor, a retired Army officer, was killed. Three others were wounded. The gunman was stabbed to death by a student. That attack, along with a separate vehicle-ramming and explosives incident at a Michigan synagogue, a new Iranian supreme leader threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz, a viral but misleading Pentagon spending story, and a missing retired Air Force general tied to classified UFO programs, all unfolded in a single news cycle.

The ODU Shooting and the Michigan Synagogue Attack

The shooting at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, occurred around 10:43 a.m. in Constant Hall, an academic building. The gunman, 36-year-old Mohammed Baylor Jalo, was a former Virginia Army National Guardsman who had been convicted in 2016 of providing material support to ISIS. He had pleaded guilty after sending $500 to what he thought was an ISIS contact but was actually an undercover FBI agent. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison but was released in December 2024 before completing his term; the reason for his early release remains unclear.