Oakland police identify shooting suspect in Oikos University attack

Police have indentified 43 year-old One L. Goh as the suspect in the shooting deaths of seven people today at Oikos University. Goh, a naturalized Korean citizen, initially fled the scene but turned himself in later at a Safeway in Alameda, where he was detained by Alameda police officers.

Officer Johanna Watson, the Oakland Police Department spokesperson, said it was too early to speculate about a motive. “We have the suspect in our department, but investigators have not had the chance to question him,” Watson said at a press conference Monday night. “Until that happens, his motive remains unclear.”

Watson said she could not confirm if Goh was a current or former student at Oikos, a small Christian college on Edgewater Drive in East Oakland. “We are still piecing together the timeline,” she said.

During the evening press conference, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan called the shooting “a terrible tragedy” and thanked all those who responded to the crisis.

“No American mayor wants this situation,” Quan said. “It seems over the last decade we have gotten used seeing senseless mass killings like this, and we will have to question the availability of guns and other services.”

Quan said the shooting will take the city a long time to get over. “It is the kind of pain that we won’t understand immediately, but that will leave the community asking for a long time,” she said.

A total of ten people were shot, Watson confirmed. Five of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene, and two others died after being transported to a local hospital. All victims are reported to be adults, Watson said, and their identities would not be shared until their families were notified.

The OPD dispatch initially received a 911 call regarding a woman bleeding on the ground at the school, and patrol units were dispatched at 10:34 am. The first officer arrived on the scene two minutes later, Watson said, and found a victim amidst a chaotic scene. Additional officers, including some from local partnering agencies, such as  Alameda County sheriffs, the police apartments of Hayward, San Leandro, Berkeley, and the BART police, rushed to the scene and set up a perimeter.

Approximately 35 people were inside the building at the time of the shooting, according to police. Several people were unable to escape from the building at the time of the shooting because of a locked door. Eventually, officers broke the windows, and evacuated 13 people, some who were gravely wounded.

Watson said additional information on the shooting will be shared as it becomes available, but the 911 call or photographs of the shooter won’t be available at this time because the investigation is ongoing.

You can read Oakland North’s coverage from the scene of the shooting earlier on Monday. Oakland North will continue to follow this story.