(AP) — ROTC students subdued and killed a gunman who yelled “Allahu Akbar” before opening fire Thursday in an Old Dominion University classroom, killing one and wounding two, according to the FBI, which said the shooter had been in the Army and pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to aid the Islamic State.

Dominique Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Norfolk field office, said at a news conference that the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps students showed “extreme bravery and courage” and prevented further loss of life by stopping the suspect, identified as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh.

The ROTC students subdued him and “rendered him no longer alive,” Evans said. “I don’t know how else to say it.”

She didn’t provide further details about that except to confirm the gunman wasn’t shot. She said Jalloh aspired to conduct a terrorist attack like the killings at Fort Hood.

The shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post.

The students’ actions “undoubtedly saved lives along with the quick response of law enforcement,” Patel said.

Jalloh, a former member of the Army National Guard, was sentenced to 11 years in prison and was released from federal custody in December 2024.

He is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sierra Leone.

According to a 2016 FBI affidavit filed in his criminal case, Jalloh told a government informant he quit the Army National Guard after hearing lectures from radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. The Virginia Army National Guard confirmed Jalloh served as a specialist from 2009 until 2015, when he was honorably discharged.