'Multiple fatalities' in Oakland religious school shooting/ Possible suspect in custody

cOakland police said there were "multiple fatalities" after a gunman opened fire at an Oakland religious nursing college.

Officials at a news conference said the gunman came into the college and fired multiple shots just after 10 a.m. They did not say how many people were hit.

Officials said they don't know if the gunman is inside the campus or fled the scene. SWAT officials were still evacuating students, according to Officer Joanna Watson.

Oakland police announced that the suspect is an Asian man with a heavy build and wearing khaki clothing. Officials also urged the public to avoid the area.

Dramatic live television footage showed officer swarming around the small Christian university, with some appearing to enter the main building. Some civilians were seen being rushed from the building and into police vehicles.

The shootings occurred at Oikos University, which according to its website is a Christian university that "was established specifically to serve the community of Northern California in general and San Francisco and Oakland areas in particular."

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A possible suspect is in custody after a shooting at a private Christian college in Oakland, California, police said.

"No imminent public safety threat appears to exist in immediate area," the Oakland police department said in a statement.

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I heard there are FIVE dead! How horrible. There is just too much of this crap happening!

Officials: 6 dead in Christian school shooting

By TERRY COLLINS | Associated Press – 6 mins ago

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A gunman opened fire at a Christian university in California Monday, killing at least six people and wounding three more, authorities said. Police say they have a suspect in custody.

The shooting erupted around midmorning at Oikos University in Oakland and left six dead, according to City Council President Larry Reid, who says he was told the count by the police chief.

Officer Johnna Watson did not give any other details about the detained suspect.

Authorities earlier described the gunman as a heavyset Korean man in his 40s wearing khaki clothing. "I can confirm that we do have one person who has been detained that we believe is possibly responsible for this shooting," Watson said.

KTVU-TV reported that the shooter was a student and opened fire in a classroom.

Earlier, television news footage showed a chaotic scene as heavily armed officers swarmed into the building in search of the shooter. The footage also showed bloodied victims on stretchers being loaded into ambulances.
Pastor Jong Kim, who founded the school about 10 years ago, told the Oakland Tribune that he heard about 30 gunshots in the building. "I stayed in my office," he said.
Angie Johnson told the San Francisco Chronicle that she saw a young woman leave the building with blood coming from her arm and crying: "I've been shot. I've been shot."

The injured woman said the shooter was a man in her nursing class who got up and shot one person at point-blank range in the chest before spraying the room with bullets, Johnson said.

"She said he looked crazy all the time," Johnson said the victim told her, "but they never knew how far he would go."

Four victims arrived at Highland Hospital for treatment, said spokeswoman Jerri Randrup.

According of its website, Oikos University offers studies in theology, music, nursing and Asian medicine. Phone calls to Oikos were met with busy signals Monday and its website was slow.

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WTH? No reason given for the bloody rampage? Going to look for the video being described above.

Seven people are dead and three are injured after a gunman entered a classroom at an independent university in Oakland this morning and opened fire, according to Oakland police.

Some reports indicated the suspect was a student, but the founder of Oikos University, where about 30 shots were fired, described the alleged gunman as a former nursing student.

Police captured the suspect in a shopping mall parking lot in Alameda, Calif.

Oikos University's "vision," as described on its website, is to "educate emerging Christian leaders." The university includes schools of theology, nursing, music and Asian medicine.

Updated at 5:51 p.m. ET:

KTVU television spoke with a witness to this morning's shooting, who said the gunman had recently been kicked out of a class at Oikos University.

Student Debra Lee, 25, who is from China, said she was in an ESL class when she heard a series of four or five pops that sounded like firecrackers, KTVU reports.

Her teacher left to see what was going on and then, she said, she heard a voice yell, "Someone has a gun!"

The teacher told the students to run and they left the room and the building, Lee said.

Also, the Associated Press reports local police spokeswoman Cynthia Perkins says the death toll is at seven. Perkins did not release any other details about the victims, but said officials plan a news conference later.

Updated at 5:45 p.m. ET:

AP reports that the death toll in this morning's school shooting in Oakland has risen to seven.

Updated at 4:59 p.m. ET:

Oakland City Council President Larry Reid says he has been told by the police chief that the death toll in this morning's incident has risen to six, the Associated Press is reporting.

One news organization quotes a police source as saying that as many as six may now be dead.

"We believe that six have been pronounced dead at this time," KITV quotes Sgt. Christopher Bolton of the Oakland Police Department as saying.

Updated at 4:51 p.m. ET:

Before being captured, the gunman allegedly walked into a Safeway grocery store and told someone that he'd just shot several people, KTVU reports.

Updated at 3:58 p.m. ET:

Pastor Jong Kim, the founder of Oikos University, says about 30 shots were fired in the incident and he described the suspect as a former nursing student at the school, The Oakland Tribune reports.

He founded the school about 10 years ago, according to the Tribune.

Updated at 3:44 p.m. ET:

Police report that the suspect, a student, was captured in the parking lot of a shopping mall near Alameda, Calif., KTVU reports.

Updated at 3:37 p.m. ET:

Five people have died after a gunman opened fire in a classroom at Oikos University near the Oakland International Airport, according to KTVU television.

Updated at 3:26 p.m ET:

Up to several people may have been killed in the incident, The Oakland Tribune is reporting. The Tribune also reports the suspect is in custody.

Police described the suspect as a student, according to KTVU.

Updated at 3:15 p.m. ET:

A local law enforcement representative held an impromptu press conference on television just now and called the situation "active and fluid." The name of the officer, who appeared on CNN, was not available.

The SWAT team is evacuating the building, she said. "Our priority is evacuations. If anyone needs medical attention, that is a priority."

She added that it is unknown whether the gunman is still inside the building or if he fled before officers arrived. Police are interviewing witnesses to see if anyone knows the suspect.

"We want to make sure we catch him as soon as possible," the spokeswoman said.

Updated at 3:10 p.m. ET:

Police have shut down streets in the area of the shooting, and also locked down an office building, The Oakland Tribune reports.

Along with reports of one person dead and at least four injured people removed from the building and taken away by ambulance, the Tribune reports more people are being triaged outside of the building, which is located in a warehouse area near Oakland International Airport.

Updated at 3:01 p.m. ET:

Police say as many as eight people may have been shot in an incident this morning at Oikos University in Oakland that has left at least one person dead, The Oakland Tribune reports.

Authorities say two people have been shot in the head, several victims have been loaded into ambulances and the deceased victim was lying on the sidewalk covered in tarp, KTVU television station is reporting.

Updated at 2:56 p.m. ET:

At least one person is dead and several have been injured in a shooting at a small independent university in Oakland, according to KTVU television station.

The shooting took place at Oikos University, near Oakland International Airport, after a gunman walked into a classroom and opened fire, KTVU reports.

The Oakland Fire Department received the first call regarding the incident at 10:50 a.m. local time, according to KTVU.

Four wounded people have been brought out of the building, according to The Oakland Tribune.

Police describe the suspect, who may be in the area, as male, Asian, with a heavy build and wearing khaki clothing, the Tribune reports.

Oikos is a Christian medical university, according to the Tribune.

The school's website says its main goal is "to foster spiritual Christian leaders who abide by God's intentions and to expand God's nation through them."

Original post:

A shooting at a religious school in Oakland, Calif., has left several people wounded, the Associated Press reports. The suspect is still on the scene, AP says.
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OMG, that video is horrific!!!

04/ 5/12

Police said Thursday they were investigating the possibility that a gunman who killed seven people at a tiny private Christian college had multiple targets that he intended to kill in his rampage.

The director of the nursing program at Oikos University has said she believed she was the intended target. However, Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said late Wednesday that the gunman had been seeking a different female administrator.

Officer Johnna Watson, a police spokeswoman, would not identify the other administrator but said she no longer works at the school. She did not clarify whether the nursing director could be among the group.

"We're still looking at if there were any other intended victims as well. That's part of our ongoing investigation," Watson said Thursday. "We're keeping the investigation open for the possibility if the suspect was intending to harm any other administrators."

Meanwhile, students and staff were allowed to return to the school late Thursday to pick up their belongings.

The shooting suspect, One Goh, 43, has been charged with seven counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder, plus a special circumstance allegation of committing multiple murders that could make him eligible for the death penalty.

He did not enter a plea or make a statement during his first court appearance Wednesday.

Police said Goh acknowledged forcing a woman from her office at gunpoint into a classroom, where he fatally shot several people before fleeing in one victim's car, according to a police affidavit.

Nursing student Ahmad Sayeed said a gunman burst through the back entrance of the lecture hall holding a terrified school receptionist hostage and began randomly firing. The receptionist, Katleen Ping, 24, was among the slain.

Police arrested Goh about an hour after the shooting spree at a supermarket a few miles from campus.

In a Wednesday interview with The Associated Press, Oikos nursing director Ellen Cervellon said her conversations with several students and faculty members led her to believe the gunman was looking for her.

She said Goh had dropped out of the nursing program at the tiny private school around November and became angry when she told him the school could not refund all his tuition money.

Cervellon wasn't on campus Monday when the rampage occurred. She did not return calls Thursday seeking further comment.

Later Thursday, several students and staff were allowed to go back inside the school for the first time since Monday's shooting as police escorted them one-by-one to retrieve belongings they had left behind.

As he waited his turn, Tenzin Topchen, 26, stood anxiously while trying to calm his lingering fears.

"I'm nervous, very nervous," Topchen said before quickly gathering his items and driving off in his silver Toyota Camry, which had been parked behind the school for three days.

Dechen Yangdon, 27, also waited nervously before two investigators took her inside. She is being hailed as a hero for intuitively locking her classroom door and turning off the lights after hearing gunshots. The shooter tried kicking in the door and then fired at it. No students were injured.

As investigators slowly walked Yangdon back inside the school Thursday, they shook her hand and praised her.

When Yangdon was later asked what it was like being back inside the school, she gave a blank stare, bowed her head, grabbed her husband's hand and quickly walked away.

Moments earlier, a small group of school staff formed a small circle and prayed near a makeshift memorial of flowers and candles. Many openly wept and tried to console each other.

Lucas Garcia, 33, who teaches English as a second language at the school, said Thursday that he was teaching Monday when he heard gunshots rang out.

He then heard a voice yelling, "Somebody's got a gun!"

Garcia said he quickly ordered his students to get up and they managed to escape through a back door, unharmed.

"We didn't know what exactly was going on, but figured something terrible was happening," he said. "There was total confusion and we were scared."

Investigators have said Goh was angry about being teased for his poor English at the school, which is focused on serving Korean immigrants but is attended by students from around the world. Victims of Monday's shootings came from a number of countries, including Korea, Nepal, Nigeria and the Philippines.

Goh was born in South Korea but became a U.S. citizen, police said.

Chong Sik Hwang, owner of C.H. Trading Co. in San Mateo, said he hired Goh as a deliveryman at the grocery importing and distribution operation in 2009 but fired him a few months later for arguing with a customer.

Hwang said Goh told him he was estranged from a wife and 12-year-old daughter on the East Coast. Records indicate Goh lived in Virginia from 2005 until about 2009, when he was evicted from his apartment.

Born Su Nam Ko, he filed a petition in February 2002 with the Circuit Court in Fairfax County, Va., to change his name to One L. Goh, records show. The reason he listed on the petition was, "I do not like my current name because it sounds like girl's name."

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This photo released by the Alameda County Sheriff's Department shows One Goh, 43, who is suspected of killing seven people at Oikos University in Oakland, Calif., on Monday April 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Alameda County Sheriff's Dept. via The San Francisco Chronicle)

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01/07/13

A judge ruled on Monday that a man accused of killing seven people at a small Northern California Christian college is not mentally fit for trial.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Carrie Panetta temporarily suspended the case against One Goh after two psychiatric evaluations reached the conclusion that Goh suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

An initial psychiatric evaluation found that Goh has had the disorder for several years.

Alameda County Assistant Public Defender David Klaus said after Monday's brief hearing that both doctors who examined Goh had similar experiences. Goh's condition causes him to have hallucinations and delusions and distrust people, including those trying to help him, Klaus said.

"He's certainly a deeply troubled man," Klaus said. "He's locked up in shame, remorse and sadness. He's not eating, he's not taking care of himself."

Klaus said he and his co-counsel have trouble talking with their client because of his mental state.

Goh is charged with seven counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder in the April 2 attack at Oikos University in Oakland.

He has pleaded not guilty and remains in jail.

Authorities have said Goh, a former Oikos student, planned the killing spree at the school that caters to Korean immigrants after becoming angry with school officials over a tuition dispute. He previously decided to drop out of the school's nursing program.

Panetta ordered Goh to return to court on Jan. 28, when Klaus said discussions will likely focus on where his client should be placed in order to regain his competency.

Eventually, Klaus said, the plan would be for Goh to go to a facility where "he is expected to be restored to competency with a combination of medication and therapy."

Klaus said that facility would likely be Napa State Hospital in Napa County.

Victims' family members, including Efanye Chibuko, have suggested Goh may be faking his condition.

In November, Chibuko, whose wife Doris was one of the seven killed, said he believed that Goh was acting and playing the legal system.

Klaus said his client is not trying to avoid anything.

"I just want to make sure it's understood that this is a temporary suspension of proceedings in this case," Klaus said. "This is really about his present mental status and the Constitution demands he be competent and be able to understand and rationally participate in the proceedings.

"And, right now, he can't do that."

After Monday's hearing, Chibuko dashed out of the courtroom into a waiting elevator and declined to comment to a reporter.

There is no timetable on when Goh could stand trial, Klaus said.

Alameda County Assistant District Attorney Stacie Pettigrew, who is seeking murder charges against Goh, declined to comment after Monday's hearing.

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