As police try to find a motive behind the shooting at an Oakland, California college on Monday that left seven dead, new details about the suspected killer reveal that he had been expelled from the institute after being oppressed by fellow students.
One L. Goh, a 43-year-old former student at Oakland’s Oikos University, tells authorities that he had been “mistreated” and “disrespected” by students at the nursing college before eventually being expelled last year. Speaking of the incident in the aftermath, the head of the Oakland Police Department also alleges that anger with the school’s administration may have played a part in the massacre. Additionally, Goh was heavily in debt and had recently lost several family members, including a brother that was killed while engaged in special forces training with the US military."We've learned that the suspect was upset with the administration at the school. He was also upset that students in the past, when he attended the school, mistreated him, disrespected him and things of that nature," Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan says to the hosts of ABC’s Good Morning America early Tuesday. "He was having, we believe, some behavioral problems at the school and was asked to leave several months ago.”Those problems pinnacled on Monday when Goh allegedly opened fire within the wall of Oikos, a school that focuses on instruction in Asian medicine, Christianity and nursing. And as those frustrations came to a head, witnesses say the former student went into the university with week with the intent to kill."This was a calculated, cold-blooded execution in the classroom," one witness tells the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The onlooker adds that Goh allegedly instructed students, "Get in line and I'm going to kill you all.""We've learned that this was a very chaotic, calculated and determined gentleman that came there with a very specific intent to kill people, and that's what his motive was and that's what he carried out," Police Chief Jordan adds to ABC.Immediately after Goh opened fire, authorities believe he fled in a victim’s car to a nearby Safeway supermarket. It was there that he quietly turned himself into a security guard without incident, who in turn alerted police. "There was no fight. He was just wearing a beanie,” Safeway shopper Lisa Resler tells ABC.By late Monday, Goh was in the custody of authorities but charges had yet to be filed. The Oakland Tribune reports that Goh is expected to be arraigned on Wednesday and in the meantime has been cooperative with law enforcement, says Chief Jordan, who adds that their suspect “hasn’t been particularly remorseful.” Through interrogating the suspect, though, law enforcement was able to obtain leads in what was perhaps the motive behind the killing. While attending Oikos, students "were not treating him respectfully," Chief Jordan tells reporters. The officer adds that through questioning Goh, they have learned that he was upset with several classmates and one female administration in particular.By Tuesday, the death toll in the massacre had reached seven students, with three more seriously wounded. "We don't believe that any of the victims were the ones that teased him,” Jordan adds.In addition to distrust with the school’s administration and its students, authorities add that Goh was heavily in debt. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that his federal tax liens totaled more than $23,000 recently and he had also been previously evicted from an apartment in Hayes, Virginia, where he was also behind in his rent. Furthermore, Goh had recently lost two family members as of late, including one at the hands of the US military. His brother, U.S. Army Sgt. Su Wan Ko, died in a car crash last year while engaged in a special forces training mission.