The Army’s top civilian and enlisted leaders have awarded eight Meritorious Service Medals and two Purple Hearts to Old Dominion University ROTC cadets who stopped the March 12 gunman later identified by the FBI as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former National Guardsman convicted in a case tied to support for the Islamic State.

In a private ceremony this week, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll and Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer honored the cadets for their actions during the attack inside an ROTC classroom, according to U.S. Army Cadet Command on Facebook. The cadets’ names were withheld for privacy.

Federal authorities have said the cadets subdued and killed Jalloh after he opened fire, killing military science professor Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, 42, and wounding two others during an attack during their class at Old Dominion in Norfolk, Virginia.

One cadet was hospitalized in critical condition, while the other was treated and released after the deadly melee.

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Sergeant Major of the Army Michael R. Weimer and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll presented honors to Old Dominion University Army ROTC cadets, acknowledging their bravery and sacrifice during a classroom shooting earlier in the month. (Ian Ives / U.S. Army)

The Purple Heart is awarded to members of the U.S. Armed Forces who are wounded, killed or die from wounds received in combat, while a prisoner of war, or in action against an enemy force.

The Meritorious Service Medal is the noncombatant service equivalent honor to the Bronze Star.

It has not been made clear how many students were in the class at the time of the shooting, which the FBI has described as an act of terrorism, hailing the cadets’ intervention to prevent additional casualties.

“There were students that were in that room that subdued him, and, uh, rendered him no longer, uh, alive,” according to Dominique Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Norfolk field office, in news conference remarks that raised outpouring of American pride on social media.

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Army Secretary Dan Driscoll honored eight cadets from Old Dominion University’s Army ROTC program with Meritorious Service Medals and two were awarded Purple Hearts for their courage, service and bravery for “terminating” an ISIS terrorist attacker. (Ian Ives / U.S. Army)

“I don’t know how else to say it,” Evans said. “They basically were able to terminate the threat.”

They heroically did so without guns.

Jalloh “was not shot,” she added, as reports indicated the cadets killed the ISIS-linked assassin by stabbing him to death.

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Jalloh’s ability to carry out an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in the U.S. after President Donald Trump started the military strikes on Iran is a function of former President Joe Biden’s Justice Department releasing a terrorist.

Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll shakes the hands of Old Dominion University Army ROTC cadets after awarding eight Meritorious Service Medals and two Purple Hearts during a private ceremony Sunday. (Ian Ives / U.S. Army)

Jalloh had pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to provide material support to ISIS and had been released from federal custody in December 2024 to mere supervised probation, which failed to prevent the attack.

He was released about 2 1/2 years early after completing a drug treatment program, a person familiar with the matter told the AP. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity.

It was not 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 are not eligible for such programs or other sentence-reducing credits.

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Old Dominion University Police Chief Garrett Shelton said less than 10 minutes passed between when officers were called about a shooting in the university’s business school building and when responders determined the shooter was dead.

“The shooter is now deceased thanks to a group of brave students who stepped in and subdued him – actions that undoubtedly saved lives along with the quick response of law enforcement,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote March 12 on X.

Three members of the U.S. Army ROTC program at Old Dominion were wounded, including one who died. Jalloh also had served. The naturalized U.S. citizen from Sierra Leone was a specialist with the Virginia Army National Guard from 2009 until 2015, when he was honorably discharged.

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Shah, 42, was the university’s professor of military science and a former ODU ROTC cadet who returned in 2022 to lead the program.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

ISIS bride Shamima Begum is plotting an attempt to return to the UK using people smugglers, texts from inside her camp reportedly reveal.

Begum, who was stripped of her British citizenship after leaving London to join the terror group in 2015, is currently being held at al-Roj – a filthy, violent camp in north-east Syria. 

The 26-year-old, who was 15 when she travelled from Bethnal Green, east London, into IS territory, has made multiple legal bids to return to the UK but they have all failed.

It has now been claimed that there is a plot brewing to sneak her back into Britain via people smugglers. 

The audacious plan comes after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) questioned the UK’s decision to strip Begum’s citizenship and called for the Government to consider whether she was a victim of trafficking.

Filmmaker Andrew Drury, who has interviewed Begum six times in al-Roj, has revealed he has been contacted from inside the camp by an American former jihadi who wants to escape with Begum.

Mr Drury, 60, has received several messages from Begum’s camp best friend Hoda Muthana – an American woman who also lost her citizenship after joining ISIS.

Hoda – appearing to act as a fixer for Begum – begged Mr Drury for thousands of US dollars using the code word ‘gummies’ and British pounds using the term ‘mints’.

They appear to be plotting to cross the border into nearby Turkey to ‘get to our embassies’ and that they believe the UK will be forced to take Begum back ‘once Turkey deports her’.

ISIS bride Shamima Begum (pictured in 2019) is plotting an attempt to return to the UK using people smugglers, texts from inside her camp reveal

Begum is still living at the al-Roj camp in northern Syria (pictured in 2021)

In messages seen by The Express, Hoda writes: ‘Bring five thousand gummy bears with u, the American brand, is better. S (Shamima) also likes mints, about the same amount, but better u come and give it so half the bag isn’t taken.’ 

When Mr Drury told Hoda, ‘The UK won’t let her back’, the ISIS bride replied: ‘They eventually will once Turkey deports her which is what they do.’

The two former jihadi brides also admit to planning interviews, with Hoda adding: ‘SB (Shamima Begum) already promised certain networks to be the first to interview her outside the camp, and in the UK when she finally gets repatriated.’ 

However, when pressed on who the networks might be, Hoda claimed Begum has not agreed with anyone yet and ‘she has people in mind who she thinks will do a fair story.’

In other messages, Hoda tells Mr Drury: ‘Imagine it as an investment.’

She adds: ‘We finally get out of here begin our process. We’re not asking to hide or run away. We just want to get to our embassies. And you’ll be the first to know and see her.’ 

Mr Drury did not send any money to the camp and informed his local MP and MI5. But he claims he has not received a response from the security services.

Speaking to The Express, the filmmaker said: ‘I’m not going to give a terrorist, or somebody I consider as a terrorist, money.

‘I understand her wanting to get out of the camp in desperation, but she and Hoda seem to be trying to manipulate people financially to help them, who knows who they are paying money to.

‘What’s worrying as well is they appear to be saying they are negotiating media interviews for when and if they manage to get to Turkey and they claim they will be repatriated if they reach their embassies.

‘But imagine if the people smugglers help Shamima so she ends up crossing the Channel in a small boat and reaching Britain that way. There’s plenty of asylum seekers who have taken that route from Syria and Iraq through Turkey.’

It is claimed that Begum is already receiving money from ‘unknown sources’ and is plotting to escape from the camp amid tension in the area.

The camp s controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who also oversee several other camps housing more than 9,000 ISIS fighters and around 40,000 women and children.    

The SDF has now lost almost all of its territory to forces loyal to Syria’s president Ahmed al-Sharaa.

The Londoner was 15 when she and two friends travelled from Bethnal Green to Syria to join Islamic State. 

Shamima Begum (pictured in February 2023) was stripped of her British citizenship after leaving London to join ISIS 

Begum, who married an ISIS fighter and had three children who all died, was found in a Syrian refugee camp in 2019 and her citizenship was immediately revoked by then-home secretary Sajid Javid on national security grounds, kickstarting her lengthy legal challenge.

But in late December, the ECHR formally asked the Home Office whether it broke human rights and anti-trafficking laws – after Begum was stripped of her UK citizenship.

The latest intervention sparked a major backlash, with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood vowing to defend the Government’s decision at the time.

Begum lost an appeal in February 2023 against the decision to revoke her citizenship after the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) ruled this was lawful.

She then lost a Court of Appeal bid in February 2024, before she was most recently denied the chance to challenge it at the Supreme Court in August 2024.

However, Begum’s lawyers warned at the time that they could still take her case to the ECHR – which they later did.

The Home Office has now been told by the European court to answer four questions about her citizenship.

One asks: ‘Has there been a violation of the applicant’s rights under Article 4 of the Convention by virtue of the decision to deprive her of her citizenship?’

Another says: ‘For the purposes of the Article 4 complaints made in the application, was the applicant at all material times within the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom, within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention?’

Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights relates to the ‘obligation to respect human rights’, while Article 4 relates to ‘freedom from slavery and forced labour’.

A further question asks: ‘Did the Secretary of State for the Home Department’s decision to deprive the applicant of her citizenship engage her rights under Article 4 of the Convention?’

A FCDO spokesperson said: ‘Protecting our national security is the first priority for the UK Government.

‘That is why we are continuing to work with the Syrian and Iraqi Governments, as well as other partners, to protect our shared security interests in the region, and ensure the enduring defeat of Daesh.

• An earlier version of this article stated that judges of the European Court of Human Rights had come to Shamima Begum’s defence and that Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights relates to the ‘protection of property’. In fact, the court’s request for further information from UK authorities is in line with its usual procedure following receipt of an application alleging violations of the Convention and does not constitute support for Ms Begum. Article 1 relates to the ‘obligation to respect human rights’. The article has been amended to reflect this.