A 20-year-old student was arrested Tuesday after allegedly publishing a threat against a school social club in Woodland Hills, a case that has unfolded largely behind closed doors even as authorities say the danger has passed. Saleh Pasha was taken into custody in connection with the threat, which targeted a club on the 6200 block of Winnetka Avenue, according to law enforcement.
The arrest was first reported by NBC Los Angeles, which cited a law enforcement official confirming the timeline of the arrest and a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Community College Bureau official who told the outlet Pasha was arrested for publishing the threat. That street address places the incident at Los Angeles Pierce College, a 426-acre public community college campus in the San Fernando Valley, though officials have not publicly named the school. Sheriff's deputies rather than local municipal police handled the case because the department's Community College Bureau holds exclusive contract policing for all nine colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District, which serves more than 200,000 students annually across an 882-square-mile territory.
A Threat From Inside the Club Itself
What makes the case unusual, per the same law enforcement account relayed by NBC Los Angeles, is that Pasha was reportedly a member of the very social club he is accused of threatening. He is a student at the school, and the threat was flagged to a school administrator before it reached deputies. Officials have not disclosed the nature of the threat or specified which club was targeted, leaving basic details of the alleged act unresolved even after the arrest.
Student clubs at the campus fall under the oversight of the college's Associated Students Organization, which governs recognized clubs spanning academic, cultural, and social interests, though it remains unclear which specific group was involved. Officials also have not specified the school that was targeted beyond the Woodland Hills address, and the exact medium through which the threat was published — whether social media, text, or another electronic channel — has not been made public.
No Ongoing Danger, but Investigation Continues
Law enforcement has said there is not believed to be a threat to the community at this time, even as the investigation remains active. The distinction matters for a campus that serves roughly 20,000 students across 85 degree programs and 145 academic disciplines, making it one of the larger institutions in a district built to police threats swiftly.
This is not the first time the Winnetka Avenue campus has dealt with an online threat disrupting normal operations. In October 2014, the same campus was evacuated after an online gun threat prompted deputies to arrest a 26-year-old former student and seize firearms from his residence, according to CBS Los Angeles. That earlier case underscores why campus administrators and sheriff's deputies tend to move quickly once a threat surfaces.
What Charges Could Follow
California law gives prosecutors multiple avenues once a threat like this is investigated. Under Penal Code Section 422, publishing or transmitting a threat to commit a crime that could result in death or bodily injury — including through social media or other electronic messages — is a wobbler offense that can be charged as a felony punishable by up to three years in state prison, according to Eisner Gorin LLP. Separately, Penal Code Section 71 criminalizes directly communicating a threat of injury to school officers or employees in an effort to interfere with their duties, carrying penalties of up to a $10,000 fine along with potential jail or prison time.
California schools also operate under expanded reporting duties enacted through Senate Bill 906 in 2022, which requires educational institutions and administrators to report student threats or perceived threats of violence directly to local law enforcement. That statute likely explains why the administrator who received word of the threat against Pasha's club moved to alert authorities rather than handle the matter internally. Federal authorities, including the FBI, have separately emphasized that electronic and social media threats against schools are treated as serious public safety matters that can divert emergency resources, regardless of whether the threat is ultimately deemed credible.
No formal charges had been publicly detailed as of Tuesday, and it remains unclear whether any weapons were recovered in connection with the arrest. The investigation is ongoing, and further details about the threat's content and the club it targeted have not been released.
