The creepy clown sightings that have been sweeping across the nation and Washington state now includes a sighting at Tahoma High School in Covington.
Before class started on Oct. 4, a staff member at Tahoma High School noticed someone sitting in a car in the parking lot wearing a clown mask.
The school’s resource officer was on duty and responded immediately. The officer detained two male students, both juniors.
Initial reports were the officer drew his weapon, but Tahoma School District spokesman Kevin Patterson wrote in an email, “I wanted to clarify that the officer was carrying his rifle but did not point it at anyone. He detained, but did not arrest, the students. They were then handed over to school officials.”
Patterson said the students were “given emergency expulsions.”
It was determined that the students did not have a weapon and there was no threat. The district temporarily held buses from arriving until it was determined safe for students to arrive on campus.
“One of (the boys) is the owner of the mask,” Patterson said. “The other was wearing the mask when the school resource officer detained him. The other two students in the car were not disciplined.”
Patterson added the two students “have the right to appeal the expulsion and return to school.”
A note sent from the district stated that many students were not at school yet when the incident occurred.
This incident comes after the district and high school had seen social media posts the night before regarding clowns and violence. Those reports are being investigated by the King County Sheriff’s Office and the district.
Sgt. Cindi West, media relations with the sheriff’s office, wrote in email, “We learned that some students saw a couple of posts on Instagram that had photos of a clown and one that mentioned a clown and had a gun in the photo. There were some very vague threats.”
West said the a deputy was at the school when “he was told there was a clown running through the parking lot of the school. The deputy stopped the clown and detained him. There was no link established between the vague threats and the kid in the clown mask.”
West wrote that when the sheriff’s office receives alleged threats on social media, “we will investigate them and seek prosecution when we find the person involved.”
West said the sheriff’s office has received calls in the King County area about a person dressed as a clown.
“A person dressing as a clown in and of itself is not a crime,” West wrote. “We believe most of these ‘clown sightings’ are youths doing pranks. We encourage people that see something suspicious to call the police, but not merely because they see someone walking down the street in a clown costume. We have used resources on these calls that could have been used elsewhere.”
