Lt. Col. Brandon Shah flew hundreds of hours of combat missions piloting an Apache attack helicopter in Iraq and Afghanistan before returning four years ago to Old Dominion University, the research school in Norfolk that propelled his military career.
The 42-year-old taught the next generation of Army officers military science and led the same Monarch Battalion of the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps he had graduated from in 2007.
On Thursday, Shah was fatally shot when, the FBI said, an Islamic State sympathizer opened fire in a classroom at the business school in Constant Hall, wounding two others before two students subdued the assailant, who was found dead. The FBI is investigating the incident as an act of terrorism.
“To think that someone who deployed overseas to defend this country would be gunned down here at home while mentoring young cadets is something I am still struggling to process,” Rizwan Shah, a cousin who lives in Springfield, Virginia, wrote in a tribute on LinkedIn.
On Friday, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) announced that flags on all state and local buildings will be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset Saturday in honor of Shah.
More tributes for Shah poured in on social media, while close family members and friends stayed private in their grief. Rizwan Shah wrote he had helped mentor his cousin into his career as an Army aviator and later watched “him grow into the officer, pilot, and leader he became.”
The FBI identified the shooter as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, 27, a former member of the Army National Guard who lived in Sterling, Virginia.
In 2017, Jalloh, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for attempting to supply support to the Islamic State terrorist group. He was freed in 2024. Prosecutors at the time said Jalloh had been thinking about conducting an attack similar to the 2009 terrorist attack at Fort Hood, Texas, that killed 13 people. At the time of Thursday’s attack, court records show Jalloh was on supervised release; his felony conviction barred him from owning or possessing a firearm.
Shah, who has a wife and child and lived in Chesapeake, Virginia, has a long history with Old Dominion, a campus of nearly 24,000 students south of Naval Station Norfolk. His military service predates his schooling, having enlisted in the Army as an aviation operations specialist before enrolling at the school and the officer training program.
A 2023 article on the Old Dominion website quoted Shah saying the military “has given me a lot of opportunities. I’ve lived on four continents, been on five. I love flying and being around people who like to work.” He held numerous degrees — a bachelors in sociology from Old Dominion, a master’s in engineering management from the University of Kansas and an MBA from the University of Georgia.
Three years after graduating from Old Dominion, Shah became a young captain at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, one of the largest military installations. He was chosen as an aide to a three-star general, said DeQuincy Dixon, who worked in the office as a sergeant first-class. It was a job seen as a stepping stone for those wishing to advance up the ranks.
“He was a good guy,” Dixon said Friday in an interview. “He was fun to talk to every day, he always had a smile on his face. We used to joke that he was just an all-around good person.”
The two also served together in Iraq. Dixon recalled a night when they had to move helicopters from one base to another. It was a risky nighttime assignment, and crews were scrunched together in the choppers for the three-hour ride. Dixon said that, before leaving, Shah ran to the wrong helicopter, a miscue that lightened the crew’s mood throughout the trip.
Authorities have not described in detail what happened inside the classroom Thursday. But Dixon, who spent 20 years in the military and now works in a government cybersecurity job, said he would not be surprised to learn that Shah was shot protecting his students, some of the same ones who moments later rushed the assailant. “Knowing him, he was that type of guy,” Dixon said.
A relative of Shaw contacted Friday said the family did not want to speak publicly. A university spokeswoman said ROTC students and staff are not participating in interviews at this time. A spokesman for the Army Cadet Command also declined interview requests, saying they need to give cadets and others “time to process this tragic event” and to give space to investigators.
The Cadet Command did provide Shah’s detailed résumé, noting his last assignment was in the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia. His decorations added up fast, including an Air Medal with Valor, which is awarded to aviators for heroism under fire.
Rizwan Shah wrote on LinkedIn that his “heart is shattered” for his cousin’s family, “for the cadets he led, and for everyone who had the privilege of knowing him. Brandon lived a life of service, leadership, and commitment to others. The legacy he leaves behind will live on in the Soldiers he led, the cadets he mentored, and the people who had the honor of knowing him.”
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