Gunman kills 7 at Calif. university

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A victim in the shootings at Oikos University in Oakland, Calif., is taken to an ambulance.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

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Updated at 9:45 p.m. ET: Officials on Monday evening identified?the suspect arrested in the shootings at a small Christian college in California that killed seven and wounded three others earlier in the day as a 43-year-old?Oakland resident.

At a press briefing with Mayor Jean Quan and others, Police Chief Howard Jordan said suspect One L. Goh was in the custody of Oakland police in connection with Monday's shooting spree, an event that he described as "shocking" and "senseless."

He said the police had not identified a motive, nor did the suspect have any known criminal history. He said Goh is a Korean national.

?It's going to take us a few days to put the pieces together," Jordan said.

Witnesses who were in the classroom at Oikos University where the shootings took place said the shooter first ordered students to line up against a wall and then pulled a handgun, the Oakland Tribune reported.

"The people started running and he started shooting," said Gurpreet Sahota, who relayed an account to the Tribune from his sister-in-law, Dawinder Kaur, 19.

Chief Jordan said the suspect apparently commandeered a victim's car and drove it to Alameda, where he turned himself in to police at a Safeway store, about five miles from the shootings.

Soon after the shooting, heavily armed officers swarmed the school in a large industrial park near the Oakland airport and, for at least an hour, believed the gunman could still be inside.

Art Richards said he was driving by the university on his way to pick up a friend when he spotted a woman hiding in the bushes and pulled over. When he approached her, she said, "I'm shot" and showed him her arm.

"She had a piece of her arm hanging out," Richards said, noting that she was wounded near the elbow.

As police arrived, Richards said he heard 10 gunshots coming from inside the building. The female victim told him that she saw the gunman shoot one person point-blank in the chest and one in the head.

Tashi Wangchuk, whose wife attended the school and witnessed the shooting, said he was told by police that the gunman first shot a woman at the front desk, then continued shooting randomly in classrooms.

Wangchuk said his wife, Dechen Wangzom, was in her vocational nursing class when she heard gunshots. She locked the door and turned off the lights, Wangchuk said he was told by his wife, who was still being questioned by police Monday afternoon.

Jordan said that five of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene, and two others died after arriving at the hospital.

Oakland, Calif. authorities provide the latest details of their investigation into a shooting at Oikos University.

Jordan said that he understood that the three injured people were being treated for injuries that were not life-threatening.

The suspect, identified by the school as an ex-nursing student at Oikos, had been absent for months before the shootings, according to students quoted by the Oakland Tribune. The school's director told the Tribune he was unsure if the man had been expelled or dropped out.

A memorial service was planned for Tuesday afternoon at the Korean Methodist Church, according to Mayor Quan.

Quan said grief counselors would be made available to the people affected by the shooting spree, but said that there was still a need for Korean-speaking counselors.

On its web site, Oikos says it aims to provide "a Christian education based on solid Christian doctrine and ideology."

The institution, established in 2008, does not appear on the U.S. Department of Education list of accredited post-secondary institutions and programs. It has California state accreditation to award degrees in theology, music, Asian medicine and nursing.

Oikos' annual revenue hovers around $1 million a year, according to publicly-available 990 tax forms for non-profit organizations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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