Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer personally awarded eight Meritorious Service Medals and two Purple Hearts to Old Dominion University ROTC cadets this week for stopping the March 12 terrorist attack on the Norfolk, Virginia campus.
The cadets received their honors in a private ceremony, according to U.S. Army Cadet Command. Their names were withheld for privacy reasons.
Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former National Guardsman with a prior terrorism conviction, opened fire inside an ROTC classroom on March 12, killing military science professor Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, 42, and wounding two others before the cadets disarmed him and stabbed him to death. Jalloh was shouting “Allahu Akbar” during the attack, federal officials confirmed. The FBI classified it an act of terrorism.
One cadet was hospitalized in critical condition following the confrontation. The other was treated and released.
The Purple Heart is awarded to military personnel wounded or killed in combat or in action against an enemy force.
Jalloh had pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State. He was released early by the Biden Justice Department despite that terrorism-related conviction. His ability to carry out the attack occurred while President Trump was conducting military strikes on Iran.
Republicans have pointed to Jalloh’s early release as evidence of the Biden administration’s failure to take domestic terrorism threats seriously. Virginia Democrats faced backlash after at least one Soros-backed district attorney attributed the attack to pro-gun lawmakers rather than the convicted ISIS supporter who carried it out.
A Virginia man has since been charged with selling the weapon used by Jalloh in the attack.
