Jade Martinez-Pogue
National Beat Reporter

Around 10 p.m. on May 18, Zachary Coughlin was arrested on a felony warrant for stalking after the sheriff’s Special Investigation Bureau began looking into the case on May 14. 

Coughlin became a concern for the Isla Vista community after he was posted on UC Santa Barbara’s Free & For Sale Facebook page on May 17. The post warned Isla Vistans to “stay away from the guy in the creepy bus.”

The May 17 post from a student claimed that the driver of the bus had harassed her and her friend when they were trying to walk home. The post has over 200 comments from members of the Isla Vista community sharing similar experiences and speaking of their “creepy” encounters with Coughlin.

One commenter who wished to remain anonymous said that Coughlin had posted videos of her and her friends on his Instagram page. After requesting Coughlin to stop, the source stated that he started verbally attacking her and “hasn’t stopped for three days.” 

Many other commenters shared similar experiences and concerns over the “Mirror Bus” that has been circling the streets of Isla Vista for a few weeks now. Posts on Coughlin’s Instagram page often reference the Isla Vista shooting of 2014, frightening the Isla Vista community about the potential for another tragedy. 

“Coughlin was living in a converted bus in the Isla Vista area and caught the attention of locals with his references on social media to the tragic mass murder that occurred in 2014,” said the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office in its news release. 

Coughlin is currently sitting in Santa Barbara county jail with stalking charges. His bus has been towed and his bail is set at $200,000.