Gunman arrested in fatal shooting at Christian college in Oakland
Police report five fatalities after a student opened fire Monday morning at Oikos University in Oakland, Calif. A male suspect has been arrested. Witnesses say the shooter was a student.
People are evacuated from a private Christian college after a gunman opened fire in Oakland, Calif, April 2, 2012 in this still image taken from video..
REUTERS/Reuters TV/KNTV
Oakland, Calif.
A gunman opened fire at a Christian university in California Monday, killing at least five people, law enforcement officials said. Police say they have a suspect in custody.
The shooting erupted at midmorning at Oikos University in Oakland and left five dead, the law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
Oakland police officer Johnna Watson did not give any other details about the detained suspect. Authorities earlier described the gunman as a heavyset Korean man in his 40s wearing khaki clothing.
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"I can confirm that we do have one person who has been detained that we believe is possibly responsible for this shooting," Watson said.She described the school as a "Korean college."
KTVU-TV reported that the shooter was a student and opened fire in a classroom.
Earlier, television news footage showed a chaotic scene as heavily armed officers swarmed into the building in search of the shooter. The footage also showed victims on stretchers being loaded into ambulances.
Pastor Jong Kim, who founded the school about 10 years ago, told the Oakland Tribune that he heard about 30 gunshots in the building.
"I stayed in my office," he said.
Angie Johnson, 52, told the San Francisco Chronicle that she saw a wounded young woman leave the building crying: "I've been shot. I've been shot."
The injured woman said the shooter was a man in her nursing class who got up and shot one person at point-blank range in the chest before spraying the room with bullets, Johnson said.
Four victims arrived at Highland Hospital for treatment, said hospital spokeswoman Jerri Randrup.
According of its website, Oikos University offers studies in theology, music, nursing and Asian medicine. Phone calls to Oikos were met with busy signals Monday and its website was slow.