The gun used in a fatal shooting at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia had its serial number deliberately destroyed, a law enforcement official said, potentially blocking investigators from tracing how a man with a prior felony conviction obtained the weapon.

The shooting occurred in a classroom on the Old Dominion campus and is being investigated as an act of terrorism, according to officials. The gunman, who had a previous felony conviction that legally prohibited him from owning or purchasing a firearm, was found in possession of a weapon with an obliterated serial number, a federal crime on its own.

Serial numbers are the primary tool federal investigators use to trace firearms. When the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives receives a trace request, it follows the chain of sale from manufacturer to licensed dealer to buyer. An obliterated number severs that chain entirely, leaving investigators to rely on other methods, including forensic techniques that can sometimes recover etched numbers from metal surfaces.

The presence of a defaced serial number raises immediate questions about the gun’s origin. Weapons with destroyed identifying marks frequently turn up in criminal investigations tied to illegal trafficking, theft from licensed dealers, or so-called ghost guns assembled from untraceable components. In this case, officials have not publicly specified what type of firearm was used or how investigators believe it entered the shooter’s hands.

Under federal law, possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number carries a penalty of up to five years in prison. As a convicted felon, the shooter faced an additional layer of prohibition under federal statute, which bars anyone with a felony record from purchasing or possessing firearms through any channel, licensed dealer or otherwise.

The shooting has sent a wave of alarm through the Old Dominion campus and the broader Norfolk community. University officials moved quickly to lock down the campus following the attack. Details about the victim or victims, the specific classroom location, and the sequence of events were still emerging as investigators worked the scene.

The terrorism designation adds federal jurisdiction to what would otherwise be a state criminal matter. Federal investigators have not publicly detailed what evidence or statements prompted them to treat the shooting as a terrorism-related act, a threshold that carries significant legal implications for how the case will be prosecuted and which agencies take the lead.

Virginia has seen renewed pressure from legislators and advocacy groups to address the flow of untraceable weapons into the state. Ghost guns and firearms with defaced serial numbers have appeared with increasing frequency in violent crime investigations across the country over the past several years, frustrating law enforcement at every level. The ATF has pursued regulatory action targeting ghost gun kits, but enforcement gaps persist.

For Old Dominion investigators, the obliterated number is both a legal complication and a practical one. Without a traceable purchase history, building a full account of where the gun came from and who may have supplied it requires more labor-intensive work, including canvassing gun shops, reviewing surveillance footage, and interviewing people connected to the shooter.

Background check requirements apply only to sales through licensed dealers. Private transfers in many states, including some that border Virginia, require no check at all, creating avenues that allow people with felony records to acquire weapons outside the system designed to stop them.

The case is unfolding at a moment of intense national scrutiny over campus safety and the reliability of existing firearms laws. Universities have spent years debating security protocols, active shooter training, and access controls. A shooting investigated as terrorism inside a classroom brings a different dimension to those conversations.

Officials said the investigation remains active. They have not publicly identified all of the victims or provided a full accounting of how events unfolded inside the classroom. Federal and state law enforcement agencies are coordinating on the case, and the ATF is expected to play a central role in the ongoing effort to trace the weapon’s history despite the obstacle the missing serial number presents.