California gunman targeted college over ‘financial dispute’

THE nursing director at a Christian college where seven people were killed has said she believes the gunman was targeting her over a financial dispute, but she was teaching elsewhere when he opened fire on others at the campus.

A portrait of suspect One Goh, 43, as an angry, unstable man at school emerged yesterday.

He made his first appearance in court after being charged with seven counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder, plus a special circumstance allegation of committing multiple murders that could make him eligible for the death penalty. Goh is a native of South Korean who became a U.S. citizen .

Showing little emotion, Goh said nothing during the brief appearance other than a soft “yes” when the judge asked if he understood the charges. He did not enter a plea.

Goh dropped out of the nursing program at the tiny private school around November but returned numerous times to ask her for a full tuition refund.

Police have said Goh was seeking a female administrator when he went to the campus Monday. When he was told she wasn’t there, they said, he began shooting in classrooms, killing six students and a receptionist and wounding three others.

“In talking to several of the students and faculty who were there, I think he was looking for me. I have that weight on my shoulders and I don’t know what to do with it,” Ellen Cervellon, director of the nursing program at Oikos University, said.

“Every single one of those students were going to be an excellent, excellent nurse. They’re in my heart, and they always will be,” she said.

Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan previously said Goh was angry after being expelled from the school, but Cervellon said he was never expelled and decided to leave on his own.

“He was never forced out, he showed no behavioral problems, and he was never asked to leave the program,” she said. “He decided on his own to leave the program.”

Cervellon said police have not yet spoken with her.