Norfolk commonwealth's attorney blames 'cult of gun absolutism' for Old Dominion University shooting

Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney Ramin Fatehi blamed "the cult of gun absolutism" for the shooting at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., despite the alleged gunman previously being convicted of providing material support to ISIS.

At a press conference on Thursday, Fatehi said, referring to law enforcement officials, "These men work every day to make people safe. People are as safe on the ODU campus as anywhere, arguably safer than in other parts of Norfolk. But this is not an ODU problem. This is a national sickness," Fox News reported.

"We live in a country where people care more about guns than they care about 6-year-old children. They care more about guns than they care about synagogue worshipers. And they care more about guns than they do about college students."

Fatehi, whose top two donors include the George Soros-subsidized Justice and Public Safety PAC and Democracy PAC, added that it doesn't matter "how hard" law enforcement or ODU works to ensure tragic incidents like the shooting are not repeated, because "somebody will be a victim eventually. It is a matter of time.

“And until there is the political will to break the spell of the cult of gun absolutism, you will see more incidents like this. So if you’re looking for somebody to blame, don’t look at anybody up here,” Fatehi continued. “Look at our lawmakers who don’t have the courage to implement sensible gun control measures, look to a Supreme Court that enables them, and do something about it. That is the lesson.

"Let's mourn the people who have died, let's decry what has happened, but let's keep the focus where it belongs: it belongs on us and having to change something so that we don't have to suffer through this.”

After the press conference on Thursday, when asked by Fox News if he stood by his comments despite the shooter having a public record of supporting Islamic terrorism, Fatehi said, "I absolutely stand by what I said. It is the truth, no matter how much the gun lobby wants to deny it."

"No matter the ideology of an attacker, that attacker is more dangerous with a gun than without one."

The alleged shooter was identified as 36-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Army National Guard member and naturalized citizen from Sierra Leone who was previously sentenced in 2017 for attempting to provide material support to ISIS. Jalloh appears to have been released by the Federal Bureau of Prisons under the Biden administration in late 2024.

Jalloh allegedly opened fire on the Norfolk campus on Thursday after walking into a classroom and asking if it was a ROTC class, according to authorities, 13 News Now reported. He allegedly killed an ROTC instructor and injured two ROTC members before he was killed by a group of students.