Behind the Badge
A Los Angeles man faces three years in state prison if convicted on charges that he posted a series of YouTube videos in which he threated to go on a “killing spree” at Soka University in Aliso Viejo.
In a case investigated by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center, David Kenneth Smith, 39, was charged in Central Court in Santa Ana on Monday, Nov. 6, with one felony count of criminal threats.
Smith, who in his videos also praised perpetrators of recent mass shootings, is a former student at Soka who is accused of posting the videos while holding firearms and talking about the possibility of carrying out an attack at the university.
On Nov. 1, OCSD deputies received reports about a former Soka student who was exchanging e-mails with an instructor.
In the emails, the suspect is accused of recounting disciplinary action he received for marijuana use when he attended the university in 2008.
The suspect is accused of faving nine loaded weapons at his residence in Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of OCSD
The suspect’s frustration in the email correspondence intensified until he finally emailed the staff member a link to a YouTube video that showed him sitting with a semi-automatic pistol on his chest and talking about the university, according to authorities.
The staff member reported the messages and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department arrested Smith at his apartment Nov. 2.
Smith is accused of possessing nine loaded firearms at the time of his arrest. All of the firearms were registered in his name.
The suspect’s YouTube channel also included a series of videos recorded in recent days in which he talked about his desire to engage in a mass shooting
In some of the videos, Smith is seen holding a firearm.
Smith is being held at Central Jail in Santa Ana in lieu of $1 million bail.
