California shooting: nursing director says she fears she was target

Romie John Delariman, a college teacher who knew Goh, said he was a keen
student but felt paranoid about being an older man in classes where most
pupils were young women. Six
of those who died in the massacre
were women and the only man to die
was shot by Goh in a carjacking as he fled the scene.

Mr Delariman said: “He said he was too old to go to school with all the young
people and he said all his classmates were mean to him. He just can’t deal
with women. I always advised him ‘You go to school to learn, not to make
friends.’ He can’t get along with people. If you say ‘How are you?’ he’ll
say ’Why? Don’t I look OK? Did I do something to you?’”

The teacher said Goh had also boasted about beating up a mugger in San
Francisco and talked about carrying a gun for protection. He said: “I don’t
know if you could call it mentally unstable but sometimes he would brag that
he was capable of hurting people.”

Goh had been expelled from Oikos University, a small 100-student religious
education establishment, in January for “anger management” issues. He bought
a semi-automatic pistol legally the following month.

For most of the previous decade he had lived in Virginia, the state where a
gunman killed 32 innocent people at the Virginia Tech campus in 2007. While
in that state Goh incurred debts including $23,000 (£14,500) in unpaid taxes
and $15,000 (£9,500) to banks.

After arriving in California to make a new start he described leaving behind a
divorce, a daughter, and a failed building business in Virginia.

He found a job at an Asian food warehouse but was let go after four months for
arguing with customers. His former employer said: “Something inside went
wrong. He was very angry all these years.” The death of his war veteran
brother in a road accident last year was said to have affected him deeply.

On Tuesday night 1,000 people, including relatives and friends of the victims,
gathered for a memorial service in English and Korean at a Baptist church in
Oakland.

Mayor Jean Quan, the first Asian-American woman mayor of a major US city, told
mourners: “This is America, where you can find a gun easier than mental
health services.

“America has to look into its soul. It cannot be that we can find more guns in
our streets than we can find health care and mental health services.

“That cannot be. That’s not our America.”

Goh later appeared in court, shackled and wearing a red jumpsuit, and was
charged with seven counts of murder and three of attempted murder. He did
not enter a plea during the brief hearing.

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