Communities were left reeling from attacks that unfolded less than two hours apart at a Michigan synagogue and at Old Dominion University in Virginia, violence that officials said would have been bloodier without intervention from residents.
In Virginia, a former Army National Guard member who served years in prison for attempting to aid the Islamic State opened fire Thursday on a classroom at Old Dominion University, killing one person and wounding two others. ROTC students subdued and killed him, authorities said.
In Michigan at a major synagogue outside of Detroit, a man, who had learned a week earlier that four of his family members were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, rammed into a synagogue and then killed himself, authorities said. None of the 140 children and staff inside were hurt, but a security officer was hit by the vehicle and knocked unconscious.
Here is more information on what happened:
Old Dominion University shooting
Mohamed Bailor Jalloh yelled “Allahu akbar” and asked whether those in the university classroom were holding an ROTC event before he opened fire, according to authorities and court papers.
Jalloh killed Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, an ROTC leader, and wounded two others, according to officials. FBI officials praised the students’ bravery for preventing further harm.
One of the people wounded has since been released from the hospital while Sentara Health said the other person is in fair condition.
ROTC students receive a scholarship to attend college while training to become commissioned officers in the U.S. military.
The campus shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism, FBI Director Kash Patel said on social media.
Who was the Virginia Shooter
Jalloh was a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sierra Leone wh …