Man accused of selling gun to Old Dominion shooter denied bond, trial set for May

Peter Dujardin, The Virginian-Pilot on Mar 19, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

NORFOLK, Va. — The man accused of providing the gun that Mohamed Jalloh used in last week’s deadly shooting at Old Dominion University was denied bond on Thursday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence Leonard said he was concerned about Kenya Chapman — the Smithfield man charged with selling the handgun to Jalloh — committing the same kind of crime again.

That’s in part because Chapman had previously admitted selling two guns that were used in a 2021 homicide in Newport News in which a 17-year-old was killed and a 20-year-old wounded.

Then he’s accused of selling to Jalloh the Glock .22-caliber handgun he used to kill Army Lt. Col. Brandon Shah and wound two students at the school last week.

Prosecutors said that Chapman sold Jalloh the gun on the evening of March 11 — the night before the shooting.

”He’s now sold three guns involved in two murders,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Gantt said in urging Leonard to keep Chapman in custody pending trial.

Chapman’s court-appointed attorney, Anthony Gantous, argued that he be released under a plan to stay at a home with an uncle and several other relatives.

Gantous said Chapman had no idea that Jalloh would use the gun to “shoot up” a classroom at ODU.

“He was just as shocked as the rest of the world was — and about what Mr. Jalloh was up to,” Gantous said.

Gantt said investigators who seized Chapman’s phone learned he had deleted a texting chain between him and Jalloh that ran over the past several weeks.

But investigators found the messages on Jalloh’s phone. Those discussions did not include anything about an attack on ODU, but indicated that Chapman had sold marijuana to Jalloh.

The two met through an acquaintance, Gantous said. Chapman was working as a cook at a Chesapeake restaurant, and a fellow employee there introduced him to Jalloh.

After Jalloh purchased the gun from Chapman the night before the shooting, he’s believed to have slept in his car outside Chapman’s apartment complex, Gantt said.

The two had a 19-second call the morning of the shooting. But Gantt said there’s a discrepancy in the phone records as to whether that call occurred at 10:19 a.m. — about 23 minutes before the shooting — or 7:15 a.m.

One of Chapman’s cousins, identified in court only by her initials, told investigators that Chapman referred to Jalloh as “my Muslim brother.”

That’s when Leonard asked Gantt whether investigators are still looking at whether Chapman might be connected in any way to what happened at ODU.

”Certainly there are red flags and we are pursuing every lead that we have,” Gantt said.

But Gantous reiterated that his client had no knowledge of what Jalloh was about to do.

Chapman, he said, only knew Jalloh as “Mo,” and didn’t know his last name. He said nothing should be made of the “Muslim brother” reference beyond knowing him as an acquaintance he sold drugs to.

Gantous also said Chapman has health problems, as well as depression issues stemming from losing several close family members in tragic fashion.

The best place for him, he said, is a conditional home plan.

But Leonard rejected that idea and ordered Chapman held without bond until a trial set for May 27.

When confronted at his Smithfield apartment on the night of the shooting, Chapman first told agents he found the gun “in the woods.” But he later admitted he stole the gun from a car at a Newport News apartment complex last year and sold it to Jalloh this month for $100.

Based on gun sales to Jalloh and others, Chapman is accused of “dealing in firearms without a license,” a felony punishable by up to five years in federal prison.

Chapman is also charged with three counts of making false statements during 2021 gun purchases — falsely attesting on a federal form that he was buying the guns for himself when in fact he was “straw purchasing” them for others.

Under a straw purchase, someone with a clean criminal history buys a firearm for someone who’s not allowed under law to possess it.

The indictment says Chapman bought a 9 mm handgun from Treasure Chest Pawn & Gun, on West Mercury Boulevard in Hampton, in April 2021. That gun was recovered from a defendant in a drunk-in-public case in Newport News two months later.

The indictment alleges that Chapman straw purchased two other handguns that year — a Taurus 9 mm from the Bass Pro Shops in Hampton in June 2021 and a Glock 9 mm from Winfree Firearms in York County in August 2021.

Lying on the background check form is a federal felony, with each of the three false statement counts against Chapman punishable by up to 10 years behind bars if convicted.

Chapman is also charged with making false statements that cause a federally licensed gun dealer “to maintain false records.”

Those charges, also based on the 2021 firearms purchases on the Peninsula, are punishable by five years apiece if convicted — bringing Chapman’s potential sentencing exposure to 50 years.

_____