Update on Oikos University Murders

A few days ago we sat stunned as we learned of the mass murders that took place at the Christian University named Oikos University, which has a theology, music and nursing programs.

According to the Oikos University website the mission of the school is as follows:

At Oikos University, students are given the opportunity to obtain a Christian education that is based on solid Christian doctrine and ideology. Our main goal is to foster spiritual Christian leaders who abide by God’s intentions and to expand God’s nation through them.

To accomplish our mission, we actively seek out, educate and train students, ministers, teachers and church leaders to become more qualified leaders. Oikos University has rapidly grown in its quality and size to become an institution that contributes to and positively changes their surrounding environment–and the world in general.

Today numerous reports have been put out that are confirming that the alleged killer is named One Goh, who murdered seven people and wounded at least three.

Mercury News is reporting the following:

One admitted during interviews with Oakland police that he went to the college Monday with a .45 caliber handgun and four loaded magazines, that he kidnapped a woman in an office and took her to a classroom, that he shot several people and that he took the car keys of one of his victims and left in the victim’s vehicle, according to the affidavit.

…

Police said the former student walked into Oikos University’s single-building campus and began shooting students because he said they teased him about his age and poor English, police said. He is suspected of killing a secretary, six former classmates, and injuring three others in the worst mass shooting in the Bay Area in two decades.

Charging documents identified those killed as Katleen Ping, 21, of Oakland; Judith O. Seymour, 53, of San Jose; Lydia H. Sim, 21, of Hayward; Sonam Choedon, 33, of El Cerrito; Grace Kim, 23, of Union City; Doris Chibuko, 40, of San Leandro; and Tshering Rinzing Bhutia, 38, of San Francisco.

Those injured were identified as Dawinder Kaur, 19, who was shot in the arm, and Ahmad Javid Sayeed, and Grace Kirika; Sayeed’s and Kirika’s ages and hometowns were not immediately available, nor was the extent of their injuries. All three have since been released from the hospital.

According to the ContraCostaTimes one of the victims of One was Sonam Chodon who had fled India due to the dangers of living there.

“It’s really sad that people came from Tibet, and from other places, for safety and a better life and this happens to them,” said Thepo Tulku, one of the founding members of the East Bay’s Tibetan exile community.

The 33-year-old Chodon, an El Cerrito resident, worked for five years in the education department of Tibet’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India, where Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and thousands of others set up residence after fleeing their Chinese-occupied homeland in 1959. When she moved to the Bay Area, Chodon volunteered for community activities and enrolled in the nursing program at Oikos.

Another victim of the shooting was Doris Chibuko who had lived in Nigeria and had come to America to raise their family and go to school.

Doris Chibuko, 40, was born in the state of Enugu, in eastern Nigeria. She went to law school and worked as a lawyer in Nigeria.

She met Efanye in college, and in 2002 they were married in a big traditional Nigerian wedding. That same year, the couple immigrated to the United States, where they had three children who are now ages 3, 5 and 8.

We know that parts of Nigeria are still under intense persecution for Christians that live there.

Please continue to keep the families of the victims in your prayers.  Please also pray for One Goh that he might find peace through a relationship with Jesus Christ.