CALIFORNIA – Judge orders competency tests for accused Oakland shooter -GOH


october 1, 2012 http://www.chicagotribune.com

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A California judge ordered mental competency tests on Monday for a former nursing student accused of killing seven people and wounding three in an April shooting rampage at a Christian college in Oakland.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Carrie Panetta ordered two clinicians to assess One Goh’s competency after his attorney questioned whether he was fit to stand trial, said Teresa Drenick, a spokeswoman for the Alameda County District Attorney.

Goh, 43, is charged with seven counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

The April 2 shooting spree at Oikos University, where Goh once attended nursing school, was the deadliest at an American college since 2007, when a Virginia Tech University student killed 32 people and wounded 25.

The district attorney has not decided whether to seek the death penalty.

Drenick said Goh would reappear in court on November 19.

Authorities said they believe Goh became angry after he dropped out of the nursing school last year and administrators refused to refund his tuition. Oikos University is a vocational school founded by a Presbyterian minister from Korea in 2004.

Goh told investigators he went to the school in an industrial area of Oakland armed with a .45-caliber handgun and four magazines fully loaded with ammunition, according to court documents.

He was arrested within hours of the shooting and refused food for four weeks following his arrest.

One comment

  1. The ordered tests appear appropriate, especially since the charges by the prosecution appear excessive and inflamed.

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