by Jonny Velasquez
One L. Goh was arrested outside a supermarket after going on a killing spree at Okios University – a small, private college in Oakland, California.
Goh was charged with seven counts of murder and three counts of premeditated murder. Goh will face life in prison and perhaps the death penalty.
Oakland Police speculate that Goh intended to kill an unnamed female administrator no longer employed at the college. Goh was triggered when the administrator would not give him a full refund for tuition after he withdrew from the university.
On Wednesday, Goh went to Okios College armed with a .45 and four clips. Goh entered the building and searched for his target in the administrative office. When he could not find her, he ordered students to line up against the wall, followed by him open-firing. He killed seven and wounded three.
Afterwards, Goh fled in a victim’s car. He surrendered to police at a supermarket a few miles from the school.
“Every single one of those students were going to be an excellent, excellent nurse. They’re in my heart and they always will be,” said Ellen Cervellon, the school’s nursing director.
Goh was previously a member of the nursing program at Okios College. Cervellon mentioned Goh talking to her about the other students picking on him because of his poor English skills.
“I always advised him, you go to school to learn, not to make friends,” said Romey Delariman, an instructor at the college.
Goh left the Okios College nursing program on his own free will. Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said, “He was never forced out. He showed no behavioral problems, and he was never asked to leave the program.”
One of Goh’s former employer’s, president of CH Trading Co, said “I asked Goh about his family when he applied for the job, and he told me clearly that he had a wife in Virginia and a 12-year-old daughter. He told me he left them. He didn’t say why. He never mentioned it again. He didn’t seem to care.”
Goh was fired from the job for arguing with a customer. “He was very nice at the beginning, but later I felt he was very stubborn,” said the employer.
Goh was originally from South Korea. His birth name was Su Nam Ko. In 2002 he changed his name to One L. Ko. “I did not like my name because it sounds like a girl’s name,” listed Goh.
Goh left Virginia in deep, financial debt. Last year both his mother and Iraq War veteran brother passed away.
“Only God knows the suffering we endure,” said Dr. Woo Nam Soo, the university’s Vice President. “In this unbearable tragedy, only God can create something good.”