 |
|
|
|
SAN FRANCISCO - An embittered Korean nursing student went on a rampage at a Korean-run religious college in California, killing seven people and wounding three others, according to the local police and witnesses.
The suspect, Goh One-il, 43, was a nursing student at Oikos University, located near Oakland International Airport, until he dropped out recently. In the U.S., he went by the name One L. Goh. It’s unclear whether he is a naturalized U.S. citizen or a permanent resident.
Of the seven fatalities, one was an ethnic Korean, witnesses told the JoongAng Ilbo.
Witnesses said Goh entered the school at 10:33 a.m. Monday, fatally shot a female administrative official at a front desk and then entered a nursing class, where he fired dozens of shots from a handgun. A total of 14 students were in the class, and six of them, including Korean student Sim Hyeon-ju, were killed and three injured, they said. The police have yet to identify the other victims.
Witnesses said there were about 50 students taking classes at the school at the time of the shooting. One ESL instructor said he escaped with more than 10 students out of the building as soon as he heard the shots.
After the shooting, police evacuated the school and sealed off roads around it. A SWAT team was mobilized to search for the suspect.
About one and a half hours later, Goh approached a security guard at a Safeway grocery store in Alameda, about three miles away from the school, and said he had shot people. He was apprehended by police sent to the grocery store.
Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan told media Monday evening that they had yet to determine the motive behind the killings, but it may be a grudge. Goh enrolled in the intensive nursing course at the school in February 2011 but dropped out several months ago. Recently, he returned to the school and demanded reimbursement of his tuition, school officials said. He confronted an administrative officer who explained the refund was impossible under school rules.
Students who know Goh said he had been under pressure to make up the class and was having trouble making ends meet. The course prepares students to take a licensing test to become a nurse in the U.S. in one year rather than the usual two.
The class is open only to American citizens and people with U.S. permanent residency. Fellow students said Goh studied hard but failed several compulsory subjects.
Goh had worked for a Korean grain wholesaler for a Korean supermarket. He was known to be a divorcee and to have one daughter from the failed marriage. His father lives in the Bay Area.
The college was founded by Korean pastor Kim Jong-in as a branch of Shepherd University in Los Angeles and went independent as Oikos University in 2007. The college gives classes in music, theology, nursing and oriental medicine.
Pastor Kim, who founded the school about 10 years ago, told the Oakland Tribune that he did not know if Goh was expelled or dropped out. Kim said he heard about 30 rapid-fire gunshots in the building.
“I stayed in my office,” he said.
한글 관련 기사
총기난사 고씨, 이혼 후 집 임대료 밀려 결국
궁지에 몰렸던 고원일
이혼 → 집 임대료 밀려 퇴거 → 세금 체납 → 자퇴 → 그리고 …
오이코스대 권총 난사 사건을 일으킨 고원일씨는 한국 영남대를 다니던 1987년 가족과 함께 미 워싱턴으로 이주했다. 2000년대 초 결혼했지만 금세 이혼했다. 두 사람 사이에 낳은 딸(9)은 전처가 키우고 있다. 2004년께 고씨는 버지니아주 헤이스에서 오클랜드로 이사했다.
그는 2007~2008년 샌프란시스코에서 한인이 운영하는 곡물업체에서 근무했다. 2009~2010년에는 아버지(72)와 한인 마켓에서 일했다. 그를 고용했던 한인 사업주들은 고씨에 대해 “비교적 원만한 성격이었지만 가끔 주위 사람들과 마찰을 빚었다”고 기억했다.
고씨는 새로운 인생을 꿈꾸며 지난해 2월 오이코스대 간호학과에 입학했다. 학비 4000달러는 아버지가 냈다. 하지만 늦깎이 학창 생활은 성공적이지 않았다. 그는 올 1월까지 간호학과에 다녔지만 과목 이수 시험을 통과하지 못하고 자퇴했다고 한다. 그의 동료 학생들은 “조용한 학생이었고, 수업도 열심히 받았지만 동료들과 잘 어울리지 못했다”고 말했다.
고씨 아버지는 2일(현지시간) 오클랜드 경찰서 조사에서 “아들이 지난해 시험에서 다른 학생들이 부정행위를 하는 것을 보고 교수에게 알렸지만 묵살당한 뒤 왕따를 당했다”고 밝혔다. 일각에서는 고씨의 아버지가 오이코스대 교직원들과 아들의 정신이상 문제를 논의했다는 이야기도 나온다.
고씨는 경제적으로 어려운 상태였다. 헤이스에선 아파트 임대료 1300달러가 밀려 강제퇴거를 당했다. 연방 세금도 2만3000달러 체납했다. 지인들은 “고씨가 경제적으로 힘들어했다”고 전했다. 또한 그는 최근 오이코스대에 찾아와 이미 납부한 수업료를 반환해 달라고 요구했다가 규정상 반환할 수 없다는 교직원과 언쟁을 벌이기도 했다는 전언이다.
고씨 아버지는 오클랜드의 웨스트레이크 크리스천 테라스 노인 전용아파트에서 살고 있다.
어머니는 오클랜드에 살다가 지난해 한국으로 돌아온 뒤 세상을 떠났다. 고씨의 동생은 지난해 미 육군 하사로 복무하던 중 교통사고로 사망했다.
