Police: Clown-related threat lands Escalon boy in juvenile hall

A 16-year-old Escalon boy was arrested Thursday in connection with a school threat police say is related to the national creepy clown trend.

Using a clown-themed twitter handle, the teen posted on Instagram on Wednesday night that he would go to Escalon High School on Thursday morning and “kill all you kids,” according to police Chief Mike Borges. He said it was accompanied by a photo of a blood-stained bed.

Detective Robert Hardgraves traced the account back to the 16-year-old who he learned is a student at the continuation high school in Escalon.

“It appeared to be linked to the ‘Killer Clown’ craze, but was taken seriously,” according to a post on the department’s Facebook page.

The teen, who was not named, was arrested at the continuation high school campus. He was booked into the San Joaquin County juvenile hall on suspicion of making terrorist threats and causing a false emergency to be reported.

The creepy clown trend started in August in South Carolina with false reports of clowns attempting to lure children into the woods, and has made its way across the nation.

People walking around in public dressed in scary clown costumes and masks are prompting phone calls to police, such as in Modesto where there have been a handful of creepy clown sightings since Monday.

On social media it has led to a profusion of threats at schools, resulting in some arrests but no violence.

This story was originally published October 6, 2016 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Police: Clown-related threat lands Escalon boy in juvenile hall."