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Hardworking Americans woke up this week to the stomach‑turning news that a convicted ISIS supporter, identified as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, was the man who walked into an Old Dominion University classroom and opened fire. Jalloh is a former Virginia Army National Guard member who pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State and was later sentenced to federal prison. The idea that someone with that history was back on campus is not just alarming — it is plainly unacceptable to anyone who believes in common‑sense security.
How did this happen? According to prison records, Jalloh shaved time off his sentence by completing a residential drug‑treatment program and was released in December 2024 — roughly two and a half years earlier than his original term — a loophole the Bureau of Prisons now admits was improperly applied. Bureau officials say they have since closed the loophole, but closure after the fact does nothing for the victims and does not absolve the political and bureaucratic class that let this happen. America needs criminal justice policies that protect citizens first, not an exercise in liberal rehabilitation experiments that let terrorists walk free.
When Jalloh stormed the classroom, witnesses say he shouted “Allahu Akbar” and then shot multiple people, killing one and wounding two others before brave ROTC students subdued and killed him, preventing further carnage. Those students acted like the patriots they are — courageous, decisive, and willing to sacrifice to save others — while a system that should have barred this man from release failed utterly. If campuses insist on disarming law‑abiding students, they should not also expect officialdom to shield the public when it fails to hold dangerous people behind bars.
This is a time for accountability, not excuses. Judges, prosecutors, prison administrators and the politicians who backed policies like the misapplied First Step Act credits must explain how a terror‑linked offender qualified for early release, and lawmakers should move swiftly to make terrorism‑related exclusions ironclad and nonnegotiable. We must also reexamine the soft‑on‑crime instincts that have infected parts of the justice system and put public safety at the mercy of bureaucratic bargaining and union negotiations.
Finally, law enforcement action after the shooting — including charges against the man accused of selling the gun used in the attack — shows some parts of the system can work when they choose to, but that is cold comfort for the victims and their families. Patriots should demand a full, transparent investigation, reforms that ensure convicted terrorists never get early release by gaming treatment programs, and praise for the ROTC students who acted heroically. This country must prioritize safety and common sense over ideological experiments; our campuses, our communities, and our children depend on it.
