Yesterday morning Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a 17 year old male junior at Rogers High School for a series of clown-related threats that resulted in the school being placed into a modified lockdown during lunch yesterday.  The suspect is being booked into Remann Hall on three counts of Felony Harassment and one count of False Reporting.

At 10:22 p.m. on Monday October 3^rd, 2016, a call was made to 911 reporting that approximately 60 juveniles were “clown hunting” on the Nathan Chapman trail near Rogers High School in Puyallup.  The caller stated he was on the phone with a friend who was “clown hunting” and heard someone yell that they had been stabbed.  Numerous deputies responded to the area of the trail but were unable to locate a victim.

At 11:24 p.m. three female students from Rogers High School received a text message call from a phone number they did not recognize.  When the girls called the phone number a male answered the phone and identified himself as a clown.  The male named three students at Rogers High School and threatened to kill the three students during lunch; the male stated that if the girls did not bring the three named students to him, he would “kill them all”.  The girls immediately called 911 and reported the threats.  Numerous deputies, investigators, and detectives were assigned to investigate the threats and ensure the safety of students at school the following day.

At 8:25 a.m. on Tuesday October 4^th, deputies contacted a male student at Rogers High School who had been named in the threat and had placed the 911 call reporting the stabbing; this student had also reported receiving threatening messages from clowns via Twitter.  The student reported seeing a person wearing a clown mask walking along a fence line at Rogers High School on the morning of October 3^rd, and seeing another person wearing a clown mask and carrying a knife on the trail along school property on the morning of October 4^th.  Numerous deputies responded to investigate the threats and ensure the safety of students at school throughout the day.

The Sheriff’s Department later developed information that the male student who had made the 911 call reporting the stabbing, and who was named in the threats, and who had claimed to see a clown near school grounds with a knife, was the originator of the threats.  The suspect reportedly started the threats as a joke with friends and it “got out of control”.  Investigators interviewed and arrested the suspect at the high school this morning.

Sheriff Paul Pastor:  “This arrest is the result of outstanding work by our School Resource Officers in cooperation with the staff at Rogers High School.  We will not tolerate threats to schools.  We will take such threats seriously and track down whoever is responsible.  I do not regard threats of violence as pranks.  Threats are criminal acts and students deserve protection.”