East Oakland gunman investigated for stalking during law school
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The ABC7 News I-Team dug into the past of East Oakland shooting suspect Jesse Enjaian and found some real contrasts. The young man was a brilliant student who had a promising career but over the last few weeks, he tweeted out vulgar and racist comments about immigration.
One of the most startling images found was on Enjaian's website where a violent rap song played over an image of an anime character holding a high-power rifle. It was a seemingly vast contrast from where he grew up in Fremont where his mother ran a bookkeeping service out of their home.
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He went to Fremont's American High School where he was on the swim team and competed as a varsity shot-putter on the track team. A spokesperson for the school district says some of his instructors remember him as a good student who was a member of the computer club.
After high school, he spent two years at Ohlone Community College in Fremont. He went on to UCLA, where he did ROTC and graduated magna cum laude in 2008 with a degree in Economics. The then earned a law degree at the University of Michigan in 2013, but while there, he had some problems.
In 2012, campus police investigated him for stalking a fellow law student. The woman complained that he wouldn't stop emailing, texting and trying to contact her. Police served a search warrant and confiscated Enjaian's computers but he was never charged with a crime.
The case led Enjaian to file two lawsuits. One was against police for violating his civil rights and refusing to return his computers. Another was against the National Law Journal, accusing them of defaming him when they published a story headlined "Law School Alum Accused of Stalking." He took issue with the use of the word "accused" since he'd never been charged. Both lawsuits were dismissed.
After his time in ROTC, Enjaian apparently had a change of heart. He wrote in a lawsuit, "I could not physically make my body take the live of another human." So one must wonder what changed and compelled him to open fire in a neighborhood.
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