FAIRBORN — A 15-year-old boy was arrested today after using a “clown” persona on social media to threaten to kill students.
The student created an anonymous Instagram account and was involved in a group chat Thursday in which he threatened to kill students today as they left school, according to a Fairborn police report.
The teen was arrested at Fairborn High School for making terroristic threats, a third-degree felony, and is being held in the Greene County Juvenile Detention Center awaiting formal charges, police said.
Earlier this week, a concerned parent contacted our newsroom stating that her son and other students saw at least one person dressed as a clown outside a Fairborn School.
Fairborn police dispatchers could not confirm the report with us, but the Fairborn Police School Resource Officer’s Facebook page did make a post that same day, Sept. 27, that read they had been asked about suspicious clowns several times, and it stated in the post “we have had at least one call regarding someone dressed as a clown in the City of Fairborn.”
It’s unknown if any of these events are related.
Fairborn police offered advice in the Facebook post:
- Halloween is just around the corner…just something to keep in mind
- When these stories hit social media, they have a tendency to inspire copy cats
- If you see suspicious activity we urge you to contact the police dispatch center
