Camarillo, Calif., April 19, 2007, 9:30 p.m.- On Thursday, April 19, at 12:21 p.m. California State University Channel Islands police officers received a report that a statement threatening the safety of students had been posted on the Internet site Facebook. The Facebook user profile that was used to post the statement was identified as belonging to Alisha Salazar, an 18-year-old CSUCI freshman student.
The main page of Salazar's Facebook profile included the following statement: “Alisha Salazar is going on a…school shooting spree! Watch out kiddies, better hide under that desk! hahaha”. The statement was brought to the attention of CSUCI's residence hall staff members by another CSUCI student. A residence hall staff member immediately contacted CSUCI police officers.
CSUCI police officers detained Salazar within 27 minutes of being notified about the threatening statement. Salazar was arrested without incident and brought to CSUCI police headquarters for questioning. Following questioning and the search of her campus residence, Salazar was booked into the Ventura County Jail on a felony charge of criminal threats.
Following Salazar's arrest, CSUCI's Emergency Operations Center convened and the process to inform students, faculty, staff, and media outlets was determined. Emails regarding Salazar's detainment and an announcement of a 5:45 p.m. media conference on campus were sent to all student email accounts, faculty and staff email accounts, and to local media outlets.
CSUCI President Richard R. Rush; John Reid, Chief of CSUCI Police and Director of Public Safety; and Dr. Wm. Gregory Sawyer, Vice President for Student Affairs each made statements at the media conference.
“I must emphasize that we believe that the campus was never at risk this afternoon. Having said that, however, prudence and a concern for everyone's safety dictated that we take immediate action,” President Rush said in his statement.
Sawyer stated that discipline issues regarding Salazar will follow the judicial process that has been established by CSUCI and is consistent with that of the California State University.
“While the county justice system moves forward in addressing the threats and the young woman involved, the campus judicial process will require that she will not be allowed back on campus until such time as a hearing has been scheduled. At that time, she will be accompanied by peace officers until the final disposition of her case,” President Rush stated.
Classes were not interrupted by this incident, and classes will be held as scheduled on Friday.
Additional updates will be provided as information becomes available. These updates will be posted on the CSUCI home page www.csuci.edu and communicated via email to the campus community.
For more information contact Ceal Potts, communications specialist at CSUCI, 805-437-8940 or 805-889-8389 or Joanna Murphy, assistant director of communication and marketing at CSUCI, 805-437-8915.
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