Victim in Oakland massacre was
studying for nursing degree
A man who died in Monday"s mass shooting at an Oakland college when the alleged gunman stole his car was described as a gentle Buddhist who had migrated the United States from deep in the Himalayan mountains and worked nights as a janitor.
Tshering Rinzing Bhutia, 38, was killed when gunman One Goh allegedly stole his car outside Oikos University on Monday morning.
"I wish he had never come to this damn country," his friend Sandy Close said late Monday. "He was ill fated."
Bhutia, who lived alone in San Francisco"s North Beach neighborhood and worked nights cleaning terminals at that city"s airport, also was studying nursing at Oikos, a tiny Christian college. He had also worked in restaurants.
"He was highly intelligent," said Close, the executive director of New America Media. "I got to know him as a waiter and ended up inviting him for Thanksgiving dinner for several years."
Nursing "would have been the perfect job for him," she said. Bhutia was born in the tiny Indian state of Sikkim, which is separate from the rest of that county, landlocked by Nepal and China.
"He was pretty much isolated because there is no Sikkim community here," Close said.
In North Beach on Monday, his landlord at a residential hotel said Bhutia stuck to a schedule, working at nights at the airport, then driving to the nursing school in his Honda Accord for morning classes before returning home each day around 1:30 p.m.
When Bhutia was several hours late Monday afternoon, the landlord, Prem Singh, said he was worried and had tried to phone him several times.
"He"s a very nice guy, been here since October "06 and I"ve never had any problems with him," Singh said. The two enjoyed a long conversation just several days ago, he said.
Bhutia was very positive about the nursing program at the Oakland college, Singh said.
이름으로부터 보고, 한국계는 아닌 것 같습니다.
