(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The man who supplied the gun used in the Old Dominion University school shooting in March has pled guilty to dealing in firearms without a license and three counts of making false statements during purchases of firearms.
Kenya Mcchell Chapman, 32, of Smithfield, will be sentenced on Dec. 18 for selling a gun to Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, who on March 12 committed a terrorist shooting at ODU during an Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corp (ROTC) class—killing one victim and wounding two more. Jalloh was fatally stabbed by a heroic cadet who intervened.
Chapman reportedly admitted that he stole a .22-caliber firearm from a car about a year before selling it to Jalloh the night before his attack.
According to court records, Chapman said he met Jalloh at work and that Jalloh told him he needed the gun for protection as a delivery driver. Chapman told agents he knew Jalloh had spent some time behind bars, but denied knowing he had a previous felony conviction.
Chapman told agents he had no idea the man would commit the attack.
Jalloh wasn’t the first person Chapman illegally sold arms to. According to court records, he was caught by the ATF making illegal straw purchases of weapons in 2021—but he went unpunished at the time.
“Two [of] the firearms were recovered from a homicide shooting in the fall of 2021—one from a victim and one from the shooter. Another firearm was recovered from a drunk in a public incident,” court records state. “Chapman was interviewed and admitted to straw purchasing all three firearms. ATF issued Chapman a straw purchaser warning letter and Chapman wrote a letter of apology.”
The guy who provided the Old Dominion shooter his firearm was under ATF investigation for straw purchases.
He once bought weapons for both the victim and the shooter in a homicide case. https://t.co/UFNNKnM8kM pic.twitter.com/3TkRN0MphI— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) March 13, 2026
Some five years later, Chapman now faces 35 years in prison for selling a firearm to a terrorist—a convicted felon who wasn’t allowed to own guns.
Jalloh was a former Army National Guard member who pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to aid the Islamic State extremist group.
Jalloh, who yelled “Allahu akbar” before opening fire, was subdued and killed by ROTC students, according to FBI officials who praised the students’ bravery for preventing further harm. The shooting killed an ROTC leader who was a professor of military science at ODU, and left two others hurt.
Jalloh, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in the Islamic State group case, was released from federal custody in December 2024. He was on supervised release, which is comparable to probation.
He was released about 2 1/2 years early after completing a drug treatment program. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity.
It wasn’t clear how Jalloh qualified for the program, which allows inmates to shave up to a year off their sentences. Inmates serving sentences for terrorism-related offenses typically aren’t eligible for such programs or other sentence-reducing credits.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
