UCPD arrests man near Kaufman Hall following anti-Muslim threats to Iranian student
The front entrance to the Student Activities Center is pictured. UCPD arrested a man outside Kaufman hall, across from the SAC, on Friday. (Andrew Ramiro Diaz/Photo editor)
By Maggie Konecky
Jan. 18, 2026 9:49 p.m.
UCPD arrested a man outside Kaufman Hall on Friday after he allegedly made threatening comments against Muslim people to an Iranian student.
Ashley Sarooie, who asked to be referred to by her middle and last name, said she was walking on the grass outside the Student Activities Center when a man walked up to her and asked if she was Iranian. Sarooie answered that she was, after which the man began to follow her, she said.
“He was like, ‘Do you know what my country is going to do to your country?’” she added. “He was like, ‘We’re going to clear all the Muslims.’ … He referred to ‘the Muslims’ as a group of people. He used a derogatory term for it.”
Sarooie said she believes the man was trying to provoke her, adding that he continued to make threatening comments about Iranians as she attempted to walk away.
UCPD arrested the man at about 2:50 p.m. for disturbing the peace, said Jeffrey Chobanian, the captain of UCPD’s operations bureau, in a written statement. He added that the incident would be presented alongside the man’s prior arrests to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The suspect had been arrested six times previously by UCPD and LAPD – including twice by UCPD less than two weeks before the Friday incident, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department inmate locator.
He had also been arrested by LAPD on Thursday, according to the locator, and was released later that night – about 14 hours before he approached Sarooie on campus.
Multiple UCPD vehicles and officers were present outside Kaufman Hall during the arrest.
Sarooie said she “never, ever expected” someone to make those remarks, and that the incident left her nervous and distraught.
“I would hope that UCLA figures out a way to make everyone come together more as a community, to put a stop to things like this and educate everyone on peace,” she said. “I feel like right now in our society, everyone’s so focused on being against each other rather than coming together so everyone can just live peacefully.”
Contributing reports from Natalia Mochernak and Alexandra Crosnoe, Daily Bruin staff.
