Editor’s note: This story recounts details of a fatal on-campus shooting. Please use discretion when reading.
A fatal shooting at Old Dominion’s Constant Hall was a targeted attack on ROTC students and their leader and would have been “difficult, if not impossible to prevent,” a report concluded.
The report, prepared by law firm Cooley LLP and released by ODU Tuesday, outlines background information about the student who shot and killed ROTC instructor Lt. Col. Brandon A. Shah and two other ROTC cadets, details the day’s events and provides campus safety recommendations.
The report shows the “extraordinary heroism” of Shah and the students, who prevented a “far greater tragedy” on March 12, President Brian Hemphill said in a statement.
“We will forever be indebted to these brave Monarchs, who are accomplished scholars, servant leaders, and true warriors, for their action and courage on that fateful day,” he said in a statement. Releasing the full report with limited redactions is “a fitting way to honor the memory of Lt. Col. Shah, who tragically lost his life, and our students, who were injured and who acted heroically, skillfully, and swiftly to prevent even greater harm.”
Cooley collected and reviewed more than 700 internal documents and emails, records, policies, police reports and more than 300 hours of video footage. The firm conducted site visits and interviewed 44 people, consulted subject matter experts and compared ODU’s practices to peer institutions.
The U.S. Probation Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Federal Bureau of Investigation did not meet with Cooley. The City of Norfolk also did not respond to the university’s freedom of information request or radio transmission and emergency medical response records.
An FBI spokesperson said in an email its investigation is active and ongoing.
“We remain committed to pursuing the facts and conducting a thorough investigation, while keeping the victims, their loved ones, and the Old Dominion University community at the forefront of our efforts,” the spokesperson wrote. “We appreciate the public’s patience as this work continues.”
The Cooley report concludes that ODU had no knowledge of the shooter’s past conviction, which includes a charge of terrorism for which the shooter served eight years. The report also says ODU Police responded almost immediately and effectively handled the situation. It recommends the university strengthen campus safety and security, emergency response, emergency notifications and post-admissions risk assessment.
Report details events leading to, on day of shooting
The shooter, a Sierra Leone native, graduated from a Virginia high school in June 2007 and enrolled in ODU that fall studying psychology. He struggled academically, according to his transcripts, and was placed on academic suspension in May 2010, according to the Cooley report.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army National Guard in 2009. He was readmitted to ODU to begin classes in summer 2011. In his readmission letter, he said his time in the National Guard “helped him develop discipline and goal orientation.” He said he wanted to attend law school after obtaining a bachelor’s degree.
He took classes at ODU until spring 2012.
The shooter pled guilty in 2016 after he was charged with purchasing an assault rifle he thought would be used by an Islamic terrorist group for a U.S.-based attack targeting military members. He previously tried to join the terrorist group and gave money to a facilitator.
The Department of Justice wanted a 20-year sentence. During his sentencing hearing, the man renounced the terrorist group and told the judge he was “in a really bad place, looking for some purpose, and it really got out of hand.”
He was sentenced to 11 years but was released after serving a little more than eight years. Because of a 2022 Virginia law, he did not have to disclose his criminal record to ODU. But he was directed to notify third parties of risks connected to his criminal record and his probation officer was supposed to ensure he complied.
Neither the shooter nor his probation officer told ODU about his conviction. ODU’s director of threat assessment told Cooley had she known of the shooter’s record, she would have recommended his removal from campus because of so many students’ connection to the military and ROTC.
Before the shooter was released from prison, he applied again to attend ODU and began taking classes in summer 2025. He indicated that he wanted to study geography and applied to graduate in spring 2026.
Instructors interviewed by Cooley said they did not see any warning signs or other behavioral concerns. There were no other “red flags” in his file, according to the report.
The shooter bought a handgun on March 11, despite being barred from doing so because of his conviction.
On March 12, he drove to campus, parked near Constant Hall and walked inside. He left, moved his car and then came back to Constant Hall. He entered at 10:28 a.m. and took the stairs to the second floor. He stood outside classroom 2065 for about 13 minutes before walking in.
It was filled with 26 ROTC cadets, mostly seniors. When the shooter entered at 10:41 a.m., he asked if it was an ROTC class. Shah said there were only four minutes left in class. The shooter asked again. Some students told him it was.
The shooter closed the door, said a phrase associated with violent Islamic terrorist attacks and began shooting at Shah. Shah stepped toward the shooter and began grappling with him.
Some cadets took cover behind desks but several tried to wrestle the gun from him while he continued to shoot. Two cadets used their knives to stab him multiple times.
After the man was incapacitated, the cadets removed and unloaded the gun and checked for other threats. Other ROTC cadets fled the room.
The shooter died at the scene.
Those still inside rendered aid to Shah who was bleeding heavily from his leg and another cadet who was shot in the abdomen.
ODUPD officers were on the scene within minutes and helped the cadets carry Shah outside, providing medical care until he and the other injured cadet were loaded in an ambulance.
Shah died from his injuries at a hospital at 1:23 p.m.
The report’s findings, recommendations
The shooter planned and executed the attack alone, Cooley concluded. He targeted people associated with the U.S. military, seeking out an ROTC class and not attacking students who walked by him before he opened fire.
The report provides safety recommendations for ODU, but said because of the nature of the attack, it is unlikely those would have prevented an attack once he “possessed the privileges of access and information that ODU students had.”
The actions of Shah and the other cadets likely prevented further loss of life, the report concluded.
“The cadets uniformly told us that the way the shooting unfolded that day was the ‘best bad option,” according to the report.
The students also said that even if the door to the classroom had been locked, they likely would have let the shooter in because he was a student.
The report also indicated that ODU’s response to the shooting was on par or faster than national averages. But clearing the building took longer than necessary because of key access difficulties.
There is a coordinated law enforcement response between ODUPD, Norfolk Police and other agencies, Cooley wrote in the report. But there were some conflicting radio reports. Norfolk Police also interviewed the cadets for about eight hours at a police station and did not let them change their clothes or wash their hands, despite “significant exposure to blood.” It was there the cadets learned their instructor died.
Norfolk EMS was called to the scene immediately but was parked a block away from Constant Hall. Shah was not loaded into an ambulance until about 11 minutes after EMS was called. It is unclear, the report stated, whether that made a difference in Shah’s death.
The report praised ODU for offering counseling services to staff and students, including remote services they could access while on spring break.
Hemphill organized a dinner with the ROTC members who fought and subdued the shooter. They told Hemphill they wanted a dedicated ODUPD officer during physical training sessions and outside ROTC classrooms, which has since been implemented.
Cooley recommended a dozen changes to improve campus safety and communication and ODU. These are the recommendations:
- Consider reinforcing a culture of emergency preparedness by encouraging all campus community members to participate in active threat training and encouraging classroom doors be closed and locked during class.
- Continue ensuring every building has an effective Knox box, a high-security lockbox that can control key access, which is supposed to be completed by Nov. 1.
- Continue upgrading door locks to electronic key access.
- Consider restricting access to location information to those enrolled in the course.
- Continue updating the ODUPD 911 call system and consider joint training exercises with other law enforcement agencies, establish inter-agency radio operating capabilities and ensure consistent and dignified treatment of victims and witnesses.
- Review current campus emergency medical services capabilities for quicker responses and consider changing current policy to allow for non-traditional EMS patient transport, such as via police units.
- Continue and expand efforts to educate about AED and “Stop the Bleed” kits.
- Implement clear protocols about who can send emergency notifications and consider guidelines around the content and language of those notifications.
- Consider increasing awareness and participation in the ODU Alert System across the campus.
- Evaluate and implement a supplemental system to alert people on or near campus who aren’t enrolled in the ODU Alert System.
- Ensure the office of threat assessment has adequate staffing and budgetary resources.
- Continue to take steps to learn about students’ relevant criminal history that may pose a risk to campus.
