By Karen Brooks
April 7 (Reuters) – Investigators believe they have found
the gun that was used in the fatal shootings of seven students
at a college in Oakland, California last week.
The weapon, located around 5:30 a.m. on Friday in a waterway
in Oakland, has a serial number matching that of a gun purchased
by former student One L. Goh, the suspect in the mass killing at
Oikos University on Monday, police said.
“Investigators have worked very hard on this case.
Hopefully, this find will help the families find closure and
bring this case to justice,” said Oakland Police Chief Howard
Jordan.
Police said the gun was found in the estuary about a mile
from the scene of the crime. Jordan said more investigation
would be needed to confirm it is the gun used in the crime.
Goh, 43, who dropped out of the nursing program, is accused
of opening fire on staff and former classmates at Oakland’s
Oikos University, a small Christian school in a dispute over
tuition money. Seven died and three were injured.
The attack was the deadliest gun violence at a U.S. college
since a Virginia Tech University student killed 32 people and
wounded 25 others before taking his own life in 2007.
Goh, who was described by some at Oikos as an outsider, was
charged with seven counts of murder and three counts of
attempted murder. If convicted of the most serious charges, he
could be sentenced to death.
Goh told investigators that he had gone to the school with a
.45-caliber handgun and four magazines of ammunition, according
to a police statement. He planned to attack an administrator and
classmates he felt had treated him unfairly, police said.
The administrator he sought was not there at the time, but
six students and a secretary were killed. Authorities said Goh
apparently believed the school owed him money and wanted to be
refunded tuition he had paid before leaving school last winter.
(Reporting By Karen Brooks in Austin, Texas; Editing by Barbara
Goldberg and Cynthia Osterman)
