October 11, 2016 - 11:03 AM
CANTON, Ohio - Police say a 12-year-old boy has been arrested for making a clown-related threat on social media to "shoot up" an Ohio school.
A statement from Perry Township police says they received a report Monday morning of the threat made through a Twitter account from someone referred to as "Frown the Clown" to "shoot up" a school within the Perry Local School District. That district's schools and other school districts in Stark County were closed Monday for Columbus Day.
Police weren't sure if the boy had access to a firearm. He was being held at a juvenile detention centre on a charge of inducing panic.
The threat comes amid reports in Ohio and elsewhere of people having frightening clown encounters and of other clown-related threats on social media.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016