Oakland School Shooting: Suspect Had Grudge, Thousands in Debt
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KGO-TV(OAKLAND, Calif.) — The former student who authorities say gunned down and killed several people at an Oakland, Calif. nursing college held a grudge against school officials, according to Oakland police. One L. Goh was deeply in debt with tens of thousands of dollars in federal tax liens against him and had two deaths in his immediate family last year.
Goh, a 43-year-old Korean national, was apprehended Monday at a local supermarket about an hour after he allegedly killed seven people and injured three others during a shooting rampage at Oakland’s Oikos University. Five victims died at the scene, while another two died after being transported to a local hospital. There is still no information on the other three victims.
“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 said Tuesday on ABC’s Good Morning America. “He was having, we believe, some behavioral problems at the school and was asked to leave several months ago.”
“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,” Jordan added.
Goh left behind a string of debts and minor traffic citations in his former home state of Virginia and was evicted from one apartment complex in the state, according to ABC News’ Bay Area affiliate KGO. Goh had been kicked out of Oikos University several months ago, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
An unidentified source also told the paper that Goh might have been involved in a dispute with campus officials.
Goh also lost two family members within the past 13 months, according to the Chronicle. His brother, U.S. Army Sgt. Su Wan Ko, died in March 2011 in an auto wreck in Virginia while on special forces training, the Chronicle reported. His mother, Oak Chul Kim, died a year ago in Seoul, according to a neighbor who told the Chronicle that she had moved there after deciding to leave Oakland. Goh’s father, Young Nam Ko, had been living in Oakland but recently moved, neighbors said.
Goh also had federal tax liens in 2006 and 2009 totaling more than $23,000, the Chronicle reported, adding that he managed to pay off some amount of his tax debt.
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