Fatal Shootings At College in Oakland

[General Mung Beans]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/us/fa ... ml?_r=1&hp

Several Dead in Shooting at School in California
Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Bodies lay covered in front of Oikos University after a gunman opened fire inside a university in Oakland, Calif., on Monday.
By MALIA WOLLAN and NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: April 2, 2012

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OAKLAND, Calif. — A gunman opened fire Monday morning at a private college here, leaving at least seven people dead and three others wounded, according to Oakland officials.

Emergency responders near the scene of a shooting at Oikos University in Oakland.

The Oakland police said that a suspect, described as a man in his 40s, was taken into custody after the shootings at Oikos University, a Christian college in a part of East Oakland with offices, car dealerships and light industry not far from Oakland International Airport.

Cynthia Perkins, the assistant to the director of Oakland Public Safety, said that 10 people were hit by the gunman, seven of them fatally. The Oakland police planned a press conference on Monday evening to release more details. The police got the first word of the shootings at 10:30 a.m., said Officer Kevin McDonald, a spokesman for the Oakland Police Department.

Police officers had locked down the area around the small college, and many of the students and staff members were still inside the building waiting to be released on Monday afternoon. Families clustered outside, along a grassy median, trying to get word from the authorities of when their children, or relatives, would be released. What appeared to be four bodies were laid out under sheets on the median. The wounded were taken away in ambulances.

“I heard some gunshots and women screaming, ‘Somebody has a gun, run!’ ” said Deborah Lee, 25, who is studying English as a second language at the school. She said she heard five or six gunshots.

The Oakland Tribune quoted the university’s founder, Pastor Jong Kim, as saying that the suspect had been a nursing student there but was no longer enrolled. Oikos, which describes itself as a Christian university, offers courses in music, nursing, English, Bible studies and other subjects. It caters largely to Korean and Korean-American students.

The pastor told the newspaper that he stayed in his office when he heard 30 or so gunshots.

Tashi Wangchuk, 38, a videographer from Richmond, another Bay Area community, was waiting outside for news of his wife, Dechen, a nursing student, who was still in the college.

“My wife called and said, in a hushed voice, ‘Call 911, there’s a shooting going on in here,’ ” Mr. Wangchuk said. He added that she told him she was in a classroom next to one in which shooting had apparently taken place.

“Someone shot through the door of our classroom,” Mr. Wangchuk quoted his wife as saying.

Malia Wollan reported from Oakland, and Norimitsu Onishi from San Francisco.

Seven dead.... At least the killer was caught immediately.

[Block]

This was on the news in the background while I was at the gym, I'm glad they caught the guy, and know that it's him, since the live news was speculating that there was more than one shooter.

“My wife called and said, in a hushed voice, ‘Call 911, there’s a shooting going on in here,’ ” Mr. Wangchuk said. He added that she told him she was in a classroom next to one in which shooting had apparently taken place.

Confuses me. If you can call someone to call 911 for you, why not call yourself?

[Imperial528]

Depending on the situation, you might not be able to actually give enough information to the dispatcher in time. They might not hear you over the chaos, or you may lose the phone, etc. It's a lot faster to call someone you know and who has knowledge of your location and say something like "I'm at work/school/etc. and there's a guy with a gun shooting people, call 911."

[The Romulan Republic]

Plus people won't nessissarily think rationally in such a situation. They might panic. Or they might simply want to talk to someone they love.

[SpaceMarine93]

Its all fun and good if everyone have guns to defend themselves, NRA, but if one of those civilians go bonkers and starts shooting like mad no one would know what hit them.

[PeZook]

Depending on the situation, you might not be able to actually give enough information to the dispatcher in time. They might not hear you over the chaos, or you may lose the phone, etc. It's a lot faster to call someone you know and who has knowledge of your location and say something like "I'm at work/school/etc. and there's a guy with a gun shooting people, call 911."

In stressful situations a lot of people literally can't dial 911. As in, they're physically incapable of dialing the correct three numbers due to the stress - when they try, muscle memory kicks in and they end up dialing the number they dial most often, like a husband, wife, girlfriend etc.

That's actually a smilar reason for why things like martial arts and combat training are so much about drill drill drill, because in a life-or-death situation your fine motor/mental control becomes next to nonexistent, unless you're accustomed to them.

[Irbis]

Plus, there's always the thing you can explain situation much quicker and quieter to someone who knows you well than to 911 dispatcher. Not attracting attention can be very important.

[Solauren]

Yeah. Right after telling your spouse to call 911, you'd say 'I love you', shut the phone completely off, and then find someplace to hide and hope the shooter doesn't hear you.