OAKLAND, California: At least seven people were killed and a number injured Monday at a private religious college near San Francisco, local media reported, while police said a suspected gunman had been arrested.
An AFP photographer saw at least four bodies being loaded into a coroner's vehicle outside the Oikos University in East Oakland, while an eyewitness saw a fifth corpse.
The San Francisco Chronicle cited a woman injured in the attack as saying a student who had always "looked crazy" stood up in a class at the Christian college and started shooting.
A police spokeswoman said she could not confirm the number of dead, but CNN and the Oakland Tribune reported that six had died and warned the death toll could rise. Three others were injured, CNN said.
"A gunman came into the college and fired multiple shots," an Oakland police spokeswoman said. "We do have fatalities. I cannot confirm the number of fatalities we have at this time."
Initially police warned that a suspect, described as Korean and in his 40s, was at large, but a short time later, the Oakland Police Department said on Twitter that they had a "possible suspect in custody."
"No imminent public safety threat appears to exist in immediate area," it added.
The gunman was arrested some five miles away in Alameda, according to the Oakland Tribune, which cited a witness to the arrest, outside a Safeway supermarket, as saying the suspect was calm as he was taken into custody.
Lisa Resler, 41, said she was leaving the Alameda store with her daughter when she saw a young Asian man wearing a hat being confronted by store security. She described him as looking "very sedated" as he was handcuffed.
Within minutes of the mid-morning shooting, SWAT teams took position around the building, some smashing glass with sledgehammers and rushing inside as officers helped students evacuate the campus, the Chronicle reported.
Angie Johnson, 52, said she saw a young woman leaving the building with blood coming from her arm and crying, "I've been shot, I've been shot."
The woman said the shooter was a man in her nursing class who rose up and shot one person at point blank range in the chest before he started spraying the room with bullets, Johnson said, cited by the Chronicle.
"She said he looked crazy all the time," Johnson said the victim told her. "But they never knew how far he would go."
The victim "had a hole in her right arm the size of a silver dollar with blood coming down," she added.
Five ambulances were dispatched to a "multi-patient medical scene," the Oakland Fire Department said on its Twitter feed, while police described the suspect as "male, Asian, heavy build, khaki clothing."
The school says on its website that it strives to "provide highest standard education with Christian value and inspiration."
"Oikos University has a very specific goal and mission to offer education programs in the area of religious studies, music, and vocational nursing," it said.
"We motivate, educate and equip students in such a way that they will be able to live an enriched life by fulfilling their goals in life and serve the community with their learned professions and skills," it added. (AFP)
An AFP photographer saw at least four bodies being loaded into a coroner's vehicle outside the Oikos University in East Oakland, while an eyewitness saw a fifth corpse.
The San Francisco Chronicle cited a woman injured in the attack as saying a student who had always "looked crazy" stood up in a class at the Christian college and started shooting.
A police spokeswoman said she could not confirm the number of dead, but CNN and the Oakland Tribune reported that six had died and warned the death toll could rise. Three others were injured, CNN said.
"A gunman came into the college and fired multiple shots," an Oakland police spokeswoman said. "We do have fatalities. I cannot confirm the number of fatalities we have at this time."
Initially police warned that a suspect, described as Korean and in his 40s, was at large, but a short time later, the Oakland Police Department said on Twitter that they had a "possible suspect in custody."
"No imminent public safety threat appears to exist in immediate area," it added.
The gunman was arrested some five miles away in Alameda, according to the Oakland Tribune, which cited a witness to the arrest, outside a Safeway supermarket, as saying the suspect was calm as he was taken into custody.
Lisa Resler, 41, said she was leaving the Alameda store with her daughter when she saw a young Asian man wearing a hat being confronted by store security. She described him as looking "very sedated" as he was handcuffed.
Within minutes of the mid-morning shooting, SWAT teams took position around the building, some smashing glass with sledgehammers and rushing inside as officers helped students evacuate the campus, the Chronicle reported.
Angie Johnson, 52, said she saw a young woman leaving the building with blood coming from her arm and crying, "I've been shot, I've been shot."
The woman said the shooter was a man in her nursing class who rose up and shot one person at point blank range in the chest before he started spraying the room with bullets, Johnson said, cited by the Chronicle.
"She said he looked crazy all the time," Johnson said the victim told her. "But they never knew how far he would go."
The victim "had a hole in her right arm the size of a silver dollar with blood coming down," she added.
Five ambulances were dispatched to a "multi-patient medical scene," the Oakland Fire Department said on its Twitter feed, while police described the suspect as "male, Asian, heavy build, khaki clothing."
The school says on its website that it strives to "provide highest standard education with Christian value and inspiration."
"Oikos University has a very specific goal and mission to offer education programs in the area of religious studies, music, and vocational nursing," it said.
"We motivate, educate and equip students in such a way that they will be able to live an enriched life by fulfilling their goals in life and serve the community with their learned professions and skills," it added. (AFP)
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