SMITHFIELD MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO ILLEGALLY SELLING FIREARM USED IN DEADLY OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY TERRORIST SHOOTING

NORFOLK, Va. — A Smithfield man has pleaded guilty to illegally dealing firearms and selling the weapon used in the March 12 terrorist shooting at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

Kenya Mcchell Chapman, 32, pleaded guilty on Friday, July 17, to dealing in firearms without a federal license and three counts of making false statements during firearm purchases.

The guilty plea establishes Chapman’s criminal responsibility for the federal firearm offenses. His sentencing remains pending.

Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, 36, carried out the March 12 shooting during an Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps class at Old Dominion University. One victim was killed, and two others were wounded.

According to court documents, investigators examined Jalloh’s cellphone and determined that Chapman’s telephone number was among the numbers Jalloh contacted most frequently during the week preceding the attack. The final documented call between the two men occurred only minutes before the shooting.

Federal investigators searched Chapman’s Smithfield residence on March 13, one day after the attack. During the search, authorities recovered ammunition consistent with the ammunition used in the firearm found after the shooting.

Investigators also determined that the firearm’s serial number had been partially altered or obliterated, an action capable of complicating efforts to identify the weapon and reconstruct its ownership history.

Court documents established that Chapman had stolen the firearm from a vehicle in Newport News approximately one year before the campus attack. Chapman sold the stolen weapon to Jalloh on the night before the shooting.

Jalloh was legally prohibited from purchasing or possessing firearms and ammunition because of a prior federal felony conviction. In 2016, he was convicted in the Eastern District of Virginia of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

The case against Chapman also involved three firearms he purchased in 2021. According to court documents, all three weapons were recovered from crime scenes shortly after the purchases. Two were recovered at the scene of a homicide, while the third was recovered during a public-intoxication arrest.

The recovery of multiple firearms from separate crime scenes became part of the federal case establishing that Chapman was unlawfully engaged in firearm transactions and made false statements during firearm purchases.

Chapman is scheduled to be sentenced on December 18. He faces a statutory maximum of 35 years in federal prison across the four counts. The maximum possible penalty does not represent a predetermined sentence. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence after reviewing the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, the admitted conduct, Chapman’s criminal history, and other statutory sentencing factors.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Washington Field Division and the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rebecca Gantt and Luke Bresnahan are prosecuting the case for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The federal prosecution is filed under Case No. 2:26-cr-34 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

🔥 NOW AVAILABLE! 🔥

‎👉 Eclipsera – Apple Music

Sponsored • TRJ Ads
Inquiries: contact@therealistjuggernaut.com

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE

AVAILABLE