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Thursday, May 23, 2013 | 12:49 p.m.

Posted: 8:44 a.m. Monday, April 23, 2012

Students return to scene of university mass slaying

Oikos University memorial
Oikos University memorial

KTVU And AP Wires

OAKLAND, Calif. —

With the horrors of a deadly shooting rampage still a fresh memory, some students at a Oakland Christian college returned to class Monday in a building where seven people were killed earlier this month.

Oikos University -- still draped with a memorial banner, wreaths and flower bouquets -- held a single English-as-a-second-language class three weeks after police said a nursing student fatally shot six of his fellow students and a receptionist.

The small school in an industrial area of the city has been busy preparing to resume operations by replacing carpet and removing bloodstains and bullet scars.

One L. Goh, 43, a native of South Korea who had become a U.S. citizen, was charged with seven counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder. He has not yet entered a plea.

Lucas Garcia, who is teaching Monday's class, was in the building at the time of the shootings. He has been spending time getting in touch with students since the attack and believes it's important to come back to campus and move on.

"They feel very scared and are dealing with a lot of emotions about what happened," Garcia said. "They're dealing with symptoms of a very traumatic experience."

Arriving students declined to talk to reporters.

In a previous jailhouse interview, Goh apologized for the shooting.

"I only remember parts of that day and it is too hard to talk about," Goh told the station, at times weeping.

School dean Jongjin Kim said most students will take classes in the same building where the shootings occurred, with nursing students permitted to attend Unitek College in Fremont.

Goh went to the campus on April 2 after becoming angry over a tuition dispute, Kim has said. The school had refused to reimburse $4,000 to $6,000 in tuition after Goh dropped out last fall.

Police said he arrived at the school that day with a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, which was later found in a nearby waterway, and that he may have been targeting certain staff members.

When Goh learned his intended targets were not at the school, police said, he began opening fire in classrooms. Police said he tried to line up victims then started firing when some cooperated and others did not.

Those killed were Doris Chibuko, 40, of San Leandro: Judith Seymour, 53, of San Jose; Grace EunHea Kim, 23; Lydia Sim, 21, Bhutia Tshering, 38, and Sonam Choedon, 33, and secretary Katleen Ping, 24.

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