'We Didn't Freeze': ODU ROTC Cadets Reveal How They Took Down Muslim Terrorist Who Opened Fire on Class

We'll never know exactly what terrorist Mohamed Jalloh was thinking when he burst into a classroom at Old Dominion University's Constant Hall last month, interrupting the Army ROTC class that was in progress, because he's dead. And he's dead because the instructor leading the class and his cadets didn't think twice about neutralizing the enemy who pulled out a gun and screamed "Allahu Akbar" before opening fire on the class.

We knew their story was going to be equal parts compelling and chilling – and, indeed, it is.

In a 17-minute video posted Wednesday to the official Army ROTC YouTube page called "Be Bold. Be Quick. Be Gone. | Old Dominion University Army ROTC Cadets Take Down Active Shooter," the cadets involved in taking down Jalloh tell the world exactly what happened inside that classroom on March 12. It's clear their military training prepared them for the moment, and they didn't hesitate to act.

The ROTC cadets who took down the Muslim terrorist at ODU speak out for the first time. They are heroes. pic.twitter.com/yWbVhk0ohe
— Teri Christoph (@TeriChristoph) April 9, 2026

They were doing presentations that day in their military science class being led by Lieutenant Colonel Brandon Shah and were about to wrap up and depart when Jalloh entered the classroom and demanded to know if it was an ROTC class. When told it was, Jalloh pulled a Glock 44 out his waistband, shouted "Allahu Akbar," and started shooting at Shah.

New: Deceased Victim of ISIS-Sympathizing Old Dominion University Attacker Was an Army Veteran

Shah began wrestling with the terrorist in an attempt to disarm him and was soon joined by a few of his students in order to neutralize the threat.

“With my pocket knife, I open it,” said Cadet Louis Ancheta, who was awarded a purple heart and meritorious service medal, describing what happened after Shah had been shot. “I run up, and as I’m running up, Colonel Shah lunges at the guy and starts wrestling with him upright.”
Cadet Jah-Ire Urtarte, a Military Science IV classmate who had been sitting in the front row, said that, if Shah hadn’t lunged at the shooter, “I wouldn’t be here right now.”
[...]
Cadet Jeremy Rawlinson, also awarded a meritorious service medal, said he “saw a cadet in front of me, I saw his feet jump over a table and rush up, and so I said to myself, ‘well, if he’s going, I’ve got to back him,’ and so, next thing I know, I pop up. I run around the table, and then all I see is, I see Col. Shah grappling with the guy, some other cadets with the gun, so I rush up there, help.”
Reineberg said that by the time he got up there, three to four cadets were on top of the gunman, but they were on his upper torso, so he had his hand on the firearm pointing straight up and away from him, “so I grabbed it and pushed it in the direction of the wall.”

Rawlinson, who also had a knife, joined Ancheta in stabbing Jalloh as another cadet, Wesley Myers, wrestled the gun away from him. Once Jalloh had been subdued, Ancheta recalled folding his knife and putting it back in his pocket, only then realizing he had been shot and asked his classmates for help.

Said one cadet, "In an instant, we switched over to doing combat care."

Lt. Col. Shah had also been shot.

Reineberg went to Shah, who he said was still alive when paramedics arrived. Shah had tried to stand up but fell back into the wall.
“I caught him on the way down and I found a gunshot wound to the upper right thigh,” Reineberg said.
“I gave Col. Shah over to paramedics alive and talking,” Reineberg said. “The next few days following this were hard, really, really hard.”

Shah and Ancheta, who had been shot in the chest, were rushed to the hospital, but Shah later died of his injuries. Jalloh was dead on the classroom floor.

The cadets reveal they've been in therapy as they deal with what happened that day in their class.

Cadet Oshea Bego described talking to a counselor, who noted that, in the face of tremendous adversity, they all took action.
“He said the most important thing is that none of us froze,” Bego said. “We all got help, aided Col. Shah, subdued the assailant, started calling numbers, getting people to their homes. I think there’s a level of determination, and in talking to a lot of my classmates, even that day, we all kind of looked around and was like, ‘We’re still down for this.'”

Their thoughts, understandably, have been on Lt. Col. Shah. “He’s a hero,” Ancheta said. “He lunged at him, he wrestled with him. He tried to save us.”

In the aftermath of the terrorist attack at ODU, questions arose about how Jalloh, who had previously been convicted on federal charges of providing material support to ISIS, was allowed to enroll there without university administrators knowing of his past. The answer was simple: Virginia Democrats passed a bill in 2022 that prohibited Virginia's public colleges from asking about an applicant's criminal history.

Lt. Col. Brandon Shah gave his life to save his cadets, and those cadets honored his example by refusing to freeze when evil walked into their classroom. He was given a 21-gun salute during a ceremony held last week on the campus of ODU to honor his memory.

Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy RedState’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.

Join RedState VIP and use the promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!