The incident was reported just after 11 a.m. It comes amid “creepy clown” threats against schools and sightings of threatening figures in clown masks.
The suspect in this morning’s incident was wearing a gray sweatshirt and a clown “skull” mask, according to a police lookout. It was initially reported that the suspect was wielding an axe; later it was reported that it was actually a skateboard.
According to scanner traffic, a caller told police that her child saw a clown emerge from some woods in the Arlington Mill neighborhood around 11 a.m. today (Thursday).
“Police were dispatched to the 800 block of S. Frederick Street at approximately 11:36 for a possible clown sighting,” Arlington County Police spokeswoman Ashley Savage confirmed to ARLnow.com.
Hoax social media posts, often featuring images of sinister-looking clowns, have threatened schools across the country. Thus far the posts have led to numerous arrests of teens suspected of making the threats, but no reported violence.
Last night, two Instagram accounts — @virginiaclowns and @dmv_clowns — posted similar threats, warning of shootings at a number of area schools, including Kenmore, Gunston and Thomas Jefferson middle schools in Arlington.
