By Matt Stevens, Maria L. La Ganga and Victoria Kim, Los Angeles Times –
OAKLAND, Calif. — The alleged gunman accused of fatally shooting seven people at a small Oakland college was charged Wednesday with seven counts of murder with special circumstances and three counts of attempted murder, the Alameda County district attorney’s office said.
One Goh, 43, is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in Oakland Superior Court Wednesday afternoon. It was initially unclear whether the DA’s office would seek the death penalty.
“The enormity and devastation of these crimes is unprecedented in Alameda County,” District Attorney Nancy E. O’Malley said in a statement. “My office will work tirelessly to ensure that this defendant is brought to justice.
“Through our Victim-Witness Assistance Division, we will also provide every possible service to the surviving victims and the families of those victims who were senselessly murdered to help them navigate this unimaginable tragedy and the legal process as it unfolds.”
Goh is being held in connection with the rampage that also injured three people Monday morning at Oikos University in Oakland. Goh, a former student at the school, had apparently returned to Oikos on Monday to settle a score.
He had been expelled this year “for behavioral problems, anger management,” Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan told reporters Tuesday. Goh had been teased for his broken English, and he felt bullied and angry, Jordan said.
He arrived at the campus in an industrial section of east Oakland on Monday morning looking for a certain administrator, officials said, but when he couldn’t find her, he grabbed a secretary and headed to a classroom.
He allegedly ordered the students inside to line up against the wall. When some refused, he opened fire, officials said. He had time during the rampage, authorities believe, to reload and continue shooting.
Six women and one man were killed. They ranged in age from 21 to 53 and were from South Korea, Nigeria, Nepal and the Philippines, largely immigrant students learning English, nursing, theology and Asian medicine. The secretary, Jordan said, was Goh’s first victim.
“We don’t believe that any of the victims were the ones that teased him,” Jordan said. “We believed he stopped (shooting) because people were able to use the phone. He could have heard people calling 911.”
Goh was detained a few hours later by Alameda police officers near a Safeway supermarket.
