Shootings Reported at Virginia University, Michigan Synagogue

A shooting on the campus of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia on Thursday morning left two ROTC cadets with critical injuries, while police are reported to have shot and killed the attacker. 

The incident took place around 10:50 Thursday in ODU’s Constant Hall. At this point it’s not known if the suspect was targeting ROTC cadets in particular, or what the shooter’s motive might have been. 

ODU sophomore Logan Hayes was in Constant Hall taking a test when the active shooter situation started. He said the fire alarm went off and he ran out of the building. As soon as he got outside, Logan told WAVY, “I heard about a multitude of gunshots go off and people just screaming.” 

He added the police response was immediate and that they assured students were somewhere safe.

All classes and operations on the main campus were suspended for the remainder of the day.

Larchmont Elementary, James Monroe Elementary and W.H. Taylor Elementary are placed on secure hold as Norfolk Police respond, Norfolk Public Schools confirmed.

In a statement, NPS said students from nearly every Norfolk high school were on ODU’s campus for a SOAR tour during the incident. Officials said the students were sheltered in place. All of the students were accounted for and safe.

Constant Hall is described as the hub of ODU’s business school on the university’s website. In addition to the campus ROTC program, almost 1/3rd of the student body is affiliated with the military in some way, according to the university. Norfolk is home to Naval Station Norfolk, which serves as headquarters and home port of the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Forces Command.

Just a couple of hours after the shooting on the ODU campus, police in West Bloomfield, Michigan responded to reports of a car that had struck a synagogue, with shots being fired seconds later. 

🚨 DEVELOPING: CAR CRASHES INTO JEWISH SYNAGOGUE IN MICHIGAN – ACTIVE SHOOTER REPORTED

• Vehicle deliberately driven into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, officials say
• Reports indicate shots were fired after the crash
• The vehicle caught fire after striking the… pic.twitter.com/lAtCANZZb5

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 12, 2026

CBS News quoted Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, who said that as of 1:35 p.m. local time there had been no injuries confirmed, “except potentially the shooter,” but that the suspect was not yet in custody. There is a K-12 school located on the campus, but Fox News has reported that school was not in session at the time of the attack. 

There have been unconfirmed reports that the suspect was engaged by security who were already on site at the synagogue, though we don’t know any details about what that encounter entailed. Since the start of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, though, some synagogues around the country have had armed security staff in place, and even before hostilities began many American Jews were embracing their Second Amendment rights, as CNN reported in November, 2023. 

At this point there has been no confirmation from authorities in either Michigan or Virginia that today’s attacks were terrorism-related or connected to the ongoing campaign against Iran, but we’ll continue monitoring developments in both states and we’ll update this post with new information as it becomes available. 

***UPDATE***

Sheriff Bouchard says a suspect in the synagogue attack was indeed taken down by synagogue security. 

“At least one individual came to the temple. Security saw him, engaged him in gunfire at the scene,” Bouchard said. “We’re not getting any active stimulus at the moment. We have everything here that we need including, you know medics and tactical gear. We’re looking to see if there’s more than one person. We’re still trying to figure that out.”