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The George Soros-backed district attorney in Norfolk, Virginia, where Thursday’s mass shooting at Old Dominion University took place, doubled down on his viral comments, saying community members looking to place blame on the shooting should direct it towards pro-gun lawmakers and judges.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi was pressed by Fox News Digital to elaborate on his comments during the press conference earlier, prompting him to stand by his comments.
“I absolutely stand by what I said. It is the truth, no matter how much the gun lobby wants to deny it,” Fatehi said when asked if he stood by his comments despite Thursday’s mass shooter in Virginia having a public record of supporting Islamic terrorism.
The shooter, a former National Guardsman and naturalized citizen from Sierra Leone, was previously sentenced in 2017 for attempting to provide material support to ISIS, but appears to have been released by the federal Bureau of Prisons in late 2024 during the Biden administration.
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City of Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi (left) can be seen next to an image from Thursday’s mass shooting at Old Dominion University located in Norfolk, Virginia. (Kristen Zeis/For The Washington Post via Getty Images (left) and Norfolk Police Department (right))
“We have confirmed reports that prior to him conducting this act of terrorism, he shouted all our stated Allahu Akbar,” Special Agent in Charge Dominique Evans said in a Thursday evening news conference.
“No matter the ideology of an attacker, that attacker is more dangerous with a gun than without one,” Fatehi, whose top two donors include the Soros-subsidized Justice and Public Safety PAC and Democracy PAC, said. A Fox News Digital review found that the two Soros-funded PACs donated over $650,000 combined to his campaign coffers between 2021 and 2025.
A conservative group that tracks nonprofit spending, The Capital Research Center, reported that across a decade, between 2012 and 2022, Soros spent $40 million on the Justice and Public Safety PAC, which is known for supporting left-wing prosecutors. Democracy PAC, a super PAC created by Soros in 2019, was given nearly $30 million during the first three months of 2020, The Capital Research Center also reported.
Some of the better-known liberal prosecutors supported by these Soros-backed groups include recalled San Francisco district attorney, Chesa Boudin, former Chicago district attorney, Kim Foxx, and former Los Angeles district attorney, George Gascon, according to the Capital Research Center.
On Thursday, Fatehi, who has served as the Commonwealth’s Attorney in Norfolk since 2022, walked up to the podium during a post-shooting press conference unprovoked before giving his remarks about who should be to blame – at least in part – for the shooting.
“I’m constrained in what I can say about the facts of the case, but I can speak a little more freely about the bigger questions,” Fatehi said after walking up to the podium.
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“These men work every day to make people safe,” he continued, referring to law enforcement officials. “People are as safe on the ODU campus as anywhere, arguably safer than in other parts of Norfolk. But this is not an ODU problem. This is a national sickness. We live in a country where people care more about guns than they care about 6-year-old children. They care more about guns than they care about synagogue worshipers. And they care more about guns than they do about college students.”
The left-wing prosecutor went on to say that it doesn’t matter “how hard” law enforcement or the university works to ensure tragic incidents like what happened Thursday, are not repeated, adding that “somebody will be a victim eventually.”
These remarks sparked backlash on social media, with several conservatives attacking him and bringing up the criminal history of the shooter.
“I really try not to cuss here, but Fatehi can f— right off with this statement,” BearingArms editor Cam Edwards posted on X.
“Given this lunatic is the DA, there’s like a 90% chance he’s going to charge the hero who stabbed the Islamist to death to stop the attack,” RedState writer Bonchie wrote on X.
Bystanders are evacuated from Old Dominion University’s campus after reports of an active shooter on Thursday, March 12, 2026 in Norfolk, Va. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)
“You see, ISIS terrorists wouldn’t be terrorists if it weren’t for Republican gun culture or something,” Bonchie said in another X post. “Mind-numbing.”
“I generally stop short of telling bad faith morons to go to hell because eternal damnation isn’t a trifling matter, but this level of intentional and malicious imbecility is testing my resolve,” Amy Swearer, a senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, wrote on X.
“Until there is the political will to break the spell of the cult of gun absolutism, you will see more incidents like this. So, if you are looking for somebody to blame, don’t look at anybody up here, look at our lawmakers who don’t have the courage to implement sensible gun control measures, look to a Supreme Court that enables them, and do something about it,” Fatehi continued.
“That is the lesson – let’s mourn the people who’ve died, let’s decry what has happened, but let’s keep the focus where it belongs. It belongs on us, and having to change something so that we don’t have to suffer through this.”
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The campus of Old Dominion University, located in Norfolk, Virginia, was the victim of a mass shooting on Thursday, March 12, 2026. (John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Multiple federal sources confirmed to Fox News that the suspected shooter at ODU was Mohamed Jalloh. The shooting occurred shortly before 10:49 a.m., the university said in an emergency alert. The gunman was later pronounced dead when responding officers arrived following a shooting near ROTC cadets, Police Chief Garrett Shelton told reporters during a news conference.
Reporting from the New York Post indicated that Jalloh was targeting ROTC members on campus, before one eventually stepped in to stop the madness, stabbing and killing the suspect.
Later in the day Thursday, ODU Police Chief Garrett Shelton indicated one victim died from the shooting, along with the gunman, while two others were injured. FBI Director Kash Patel also indicated Thursday that federal authorities were investigating the matter as an act of terrorism.
Fox News’ Ashley Carnahan, Louis Casiano, and Bill Melugin contributed to this report
