Hopkins Police Not Clowning Around With Facebook Threats
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Police in Hopkins say a 15-year-old girl made a creepy clown Facebook page that had threats to kill people in Hopkins and other cities.
Authorities said they were alerted to the Facebook page for "Kroacky the Klown" on Tuesday and immediately worked to identify a suspect.
Sgt. Michael Glassberg from Hopkins Police says the suspect was identified with the help of Facebook.
"The suspect turned out to be a 15-year-old juvenile female out of Bloomington who had created the 'Kroacky the Klown' page to scare her boyfriend," Glassberg said.
He says the girl did not realize it would get out of control. Hoax or not, Glassberg says no clowning around -- they take this stuff seriously.
"It's playing on people's emotions. I think there's some people have this deep fear of clowns and people obviously are taking advantage of that and it's concerning," Glassberg said.
Koarcky Klown has been identified and charges will be pursued for their threats on Facebook. Thank you for the messages and calls. pic.twitter.com/iiuy7XLIE1
— Hopkins Police (@HopkinsPolice) October 5, 2016
In a press release, police advised parents to teach their children about the consequences of inappropriate behavior on social media.
Authorities also urged residents to report any threats, from creepy clowns or otherwise.
The incident in Hopkins comes as other Minnesota communities have seen recent investigations into creepy clown sightings.
Across the nation, malicious-looking clowns have been spotted from Arizona to Maine.
In some cases, those behind the masks and threatening Facebook pages have faced criminal charges.