Lieutenant Colonel Brandon Shah, the victim of the active shooter incident at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, previously served in the 82nd Airborne Division. 

The 82nd U.S. Army airborne infantry division is based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. 

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Thursday, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh opened fire inside Constant Hall, which houses the university's business school besides the football stadium at the center of campus. 

According to FBI officials, ROTC students subdued and killed Jalloh while responding to the shooting. 

Shah, a native of Virginia, was an alumnus of Old Dominion University and the school's current professor of military science for the ROTC program.  

According to Old Dominion's faculty page on Shah:

Brandon last served as the Brigade S3 in the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, Hunter Army Airfield, Savannah, GA. Before Brigade S3, he served as the Squadron S3 in the 3-17 Air Cavalry Squadron overseeing modernization efforts for Attack Helicopters. Brandon’s command time exceeds 36 months which includes a command in A/1-3 Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, A/3-17 Air Cavalry Squadron, and B/603 Aviation Support Battalion. His service assignments include the 101st Airborne Division, 82nd Airborne Division, XVII Airborne Corps, United States Forces-Iraq, and 3rd Infantry Division.

XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg Commanding General Lt. Gen. Gregory Anderson said, “The soldiers and families of the XVIII Airborne Corps are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Lt. Col. Brandon Shah. Our thoughts and prayers are with Lt. Col. Shah’s family, his cadets and the entire Old Dominion University community during this incredibly difficult time. We mourn the loss of a leader, a mentor, and a teammate whose impact will live on through the cadets he inspired to serve our nation.”

Lt. Col. Jimmy Delongchamp, public information officer for the U.S. Army Cadet Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky, told The Associated Press that two others wounded in the attack are members of the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at ODU.

“We will continue to coordinate with the university and law enforcement agencies as they investigate the incident,” Delongchamp said in a brief telephone interview. “There’s still a lot more stuff we have to work out.”

WRAL has reached out to Fort Bragg officials for more details on Shah's military service with the 82nd Airborne Division. 

Court documents show that Jalloh had spent time in prison for attempting to aid the Islamic State.

After Jalloh pleaded guilty in October 2016 to providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization — the Islamic State group — a federal judge sentenced him in 2017 to an 11-year prison term with credit for time served retroactive to his July 2016 arrest.

Jalloh was released from federal custody Dec. 23, 2024. He was on supervised release, which is comparable to probation, when he carried out the attack on Thursday.