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NewsApril 6, 2012

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Police said Thursday they were investigating the possibility that a gunman who killed seven people at a tiny private Christian college was seeking multiple intended targets in his rampage. A day earlier, police said the apparent target had been the director of the nursing program at Oikos University...

By TERRY COLLINS ~ The Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Police said Thursday they were investigating the possibility that a gunman who killed seven people at a tiny private Christian college was seeking multiple intended targets in his rampage.

A day earlier, police said the apparent target had been the director of the nursing program at Oikos University.

However, Oakland police chief Howard Jordan said late Wednesday the gunman had been seeking another female administrator, not the director of the nursing program.

Officer Johnna Watson, a police spokeswoman, would not identify the other administrator but said she no longer works at the school.

"We're still looking at if there were any other intended victims as well. That's part of our ongoing investigation," Watson said Thursday. "We're keeping the investigation open for the possibility if the suspect was intending to harm any other administrators."

Suspect One Goh, 43, has been 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.

He did not enter a plea or make a statement during his first court appearance Wednesday.

Police said Goh acknowledged forcing a woman from her office at gunpoint into a classroom, where he fatally shot several people before fleeing in one victim's car, according to a police affidavit.

Nursing student Ahmad Sayeed said a gunman burst through the back entrance of the lecture hall holding a terrified school receptionist hostage and began randomly firing. The receptionist, Katleen Ping, 24, was among the slain.

Police arrested Goh about an hour after the shooting spree at a supermarket a few miles from campus.

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Oikos nursing director Ellen Cervellon said Wednesday her conversations with several students and faculty members led her to believe the gunman was looking for her.

She said Goh had dropped out of the nursing program at the tiny private school around November and became angry when she told him the school could not refund all his tuition money.

Cervellon wasn't on campus Monday when the rampage occurred. She did not return calls Thursday seeking further comment.

Investigators have said Goh was angry about being teased for his poor English at the school, which is focused on serving Korean immigrants but is attended by students from around the world. Victims of Monday's shootings came from a number of countries, including Korea, Nepal, Nigeria and the Philippines.

Goh was born in South Korea but became a U.S. citizen, police said.

Chong Sik Hwang, owner of C.H. Trading Co. in San Mateo, said he hired Goh as a deliveryman at the grocery importing and distribution operation in 2009 but fired him a few months later for arguing with a customer.

Hwang said Goh told him he was estranged from a wife and 12-year-old daughter on the East Coast. Records indicate Goh lived in Virginia from 2005 until about 2009, when he was evicted from his apartment.

Born Su Nam Ko, he filed a petition in February 2002 with the Circuit Court in Fairfax County, Va., to change his name to One L. Goh, records show.

The reason he listed on the petition was "I do not like my current name because it sounds like girl's name."

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Associated Press researchers Lynn Dombek and Monika Mathur in New York and AP writers Tracie Cone in Fresno, Calif., Matthew Barakat in Fairfax, Va., and Garance Burke, Paul Elias and Marcus Wohlsen in San Francisco contributed to this report.

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