Creepy clown sightings reported in Modesto; police, school district issue statements

Modesto police have responded to three creepy clown sightings since Monday afternoon, a hoax that has been sweeping the nation.

The first person dressed as a clown was spotted in the parking lot outside Sears at Vintage Faire Mall, said Modesto Police Department spokeswoman Heather Graves. The clown was being driven around by a man in a dark-colored car and getting out of the vehicle in an effort to scare people.

Danelle Kiser snapped a photo of the man, wearing a white-faced mask with bright red hair. She spotted him as she and her friend were leaving Sears; he was standing next to her car.

“My friend started to walk out and I stopped her,” Kiser said. “Once this guy noticed that we were scared to walk out he started staring at us and walking back and forth.”

She said he got in the passenger seat of a blue Toyota and went to the opposite end of the parking lot. She and her friend hurried to her car and the Toyota circled back around. “They stopped right at the sidewalk where we were walking and opened their doors,” Kiser said.

They went back inside Sears and called police.

Graves, whose department issued an official statement Tuesday afternoon about the “creepy clowns” sightings, said mall security checked cameras and officers patrolled the parking lot but the clown was not located.

On Monday night, officers were dispatched to Briggs and Wheatley avenues in west Modesto for a report of two people with clown heads wearing black. They were holding balloons, Graves said.

About 4 a.m. Tuesday at an apartment complex down the road from the mall on Braden Avenue, a security guard called police to report a clown had followed him for about 50 yards. The security guard said the clown had something in his hand that appeared to be a hatchet or a hammer.

Officers searched the area but could not locate the person.

A fourth clown incident was recorded and posted on Twitter but not reported to police. The video shows a person in all black wearing a clown mask and walking through a park – Beyer Park, according to the post.

The person taking the video is on the opposite side of a chain-link fence from the clown. People can be heard shrieking and taunting the person in the clown outfit. Several people yell “Get ’em” as two men are seen chasing the clown through the park.

Police have yet to make contact with any of the creepy clowns.

Regarding whether any of them could have been arrested, Graves said, “We would evaluate each situation separately and, depending on what transpired, criminal charge could be filed.”

Across the country, police departments have been responding to reports of clowns chasing people with weapons, attempting to lure children or jumping out of bushes. Many of the reports were unfounded, part of what has become a national prank.

On Tuesday afternoon, Modesto City Schools addressed the clown reports.

The school district said in a Facebook post that it’s monitoring recent social media posts and reports warning that clowns will show up at schools threatening to do harm. They said there have been no legitimate reports in Modesto schools but that staff will continue to monitor the situation and work with Modesto Police.

A few hours earlier, a post on Modesto Police Department’s Facebook read, “We are aware of the heightened concern regarding ‘creepy clowns’ and are actively looking into a few sighting incidents that have been reported to us over the last couple of days.” It advises anyone who sees anything suspicious, including individuals dressed as clowns, to avoid contact and report the circumstances to police immediately at (209) 552-2470.

Law enforcement officials say the false reports tie up resources and people who do dress as creepy clowns to scare strangers are putting themselves at risk because those strangers could react violently.

“Someone who is masked out in the community, regardless of the situation – you don’t know their intentions and that could pose a safety hazard for them,” Graves said. “You could be scaring the wrong person and who knows what could happen.”

Two Merced high schools on Monday notified parents about a group of people dressed as clowns who made general threats on social media about going to the schools. The Merced Police Department’s high-tech investigations unit looked into the social media accounts and found they did not originate in California.

Last week, Fresno police arrested two teen girls on suspicion of making empty threats to schools on social media. One high school student made the threat via an account depicting a clown and said it was a joke, pointing out that it’s Halloween time. She is now facing felony charges of making terrorist threats, The Fresno Bee reported.

This story was originally published October 4, 2016 at 1:54 PM with the headline "Creepy clown sightings reported in Modesto; police, school district issue statements."