WAVE 10-10-16

It’s not funny New York Times, the details
which sounded made up to
After clown sightings have some, were pulled from sher-
been reported on social media iff's office reports in
and threats have been made Greenville County after sev-
nationwide, the "killer clowns" eral residents reported the
that are allegedly stalking chil- clowns.
dren are a popular news story
spreading like wildfire. Allegedly, some clowns inter-
acted with the kids, offering
However, with reports on so- them money to follow them
cial media raising more ques- into the woods. Other clowns
tions than answers no one is kept their distance, standing
quite sure what's true and under streetlights waving at
what's hearsay. So, here is residents. Although police
everything that's known about could not confirm the sight-
the alleged "killer clowns" ings as true at the time, anx-
making their way through New ious residents took the law
Jersey. into their own hands and al-
legedly fired shots into the
1. How did this 'clown' craze wooded area to ward off the
get started? clowns, however, the hysteria
spread elsewhere.

In late August, reports of
"creepy clowns" began mak-
ing the rounds in rural South
Carolina. The stories, which
sounded like plots of horror
movies, started out fairly
basic – kids telling their par-
ents that a group of clowns
were attempting to lure them
in the woods. According to the

Through social media, it's thought it was funny, police al- "We will be at all High schools
lege. A teen was charged in this friday to either kidnapp
been reported that states in- Philadelphia under the same students or kill teachers going
circumstances. In other to they cars," read a post by
cluding Alabama, Florida, states, people have been an account called Aint
charged with making false Clownin Around, that has
Kentucky, Pennsylvania, claims that they've seen since been taken down.
clowns.
North Carolina, New York and 3. Are threats being made lo- The threat didn't specify a
cally? school and was shared
a handful of other states, in- throughout the country, caus-
As reports of sightings contin- ing alarm everywhere. Ac-
cluding New Jersey, have had ued to spread, all it took was a counts, that are considered to
vague social media post to be copycat accounts, began
clown sightings. send parents, administration posting specifics – threaten-
and students of schools ing certain schools via Insta-
2. Are the clowns actually throughout New Jersey into a gram photos or Facebook
doing anything illegal? frenzy. It started Friday in in posts.
numerous towns in south Jer-
While reports of clowns re- sey including in Burlington, By Monday, many other police
mained relatively harmless Gloucester and Cumberland departments in schools in
with clowns simply lurking counties. New Jersey — including Eliza-
around and waving, reports beth, Hamilton, and Roselle
gained intensity as they Park — were responding to
spread across New Jersey. In unfounded threats and fears.
Phillipsburg, four sightings
were reported in two days. In 4. Is social media making it
these cases, the clowns came worse?
out of the woods and chased
the children. According to re- Panicked parents and nervous
ports, around 5 p.m. in Warren students began circulating the
County, a jester wielding a threats via social media, alert-
sword ran after a child. Later ing authorities to the concern,
that same day, a truck was which lead to rumors of lock-
seen driving around with mul- downs which were unfounded.
tiple clowns hanging out of
the windows.

Police have said in past re-
ports that simply wearing a
clown mask is not illegal and
ask that people refrain from
"clown hunting" as it could do
more harm than good.

Some people have been ar-
rested in relation to the clown
threats — but for fueling the
hoax, not for physically harm-
ing anyone. A Gloucester
County teen was charged
Monday with posting threats
on social media because she

A series of coincidences in 5. How are police and schools were investigating it.
school districts partnered with are handling this?
social media hearsay fueled For the most part, however,
the frenzy further. In Glouces- Police and schools are taking social media has been flooded
ter County, a "true, routine, the threats seriously and are with reports of clown sight-
faulty fire alarm" at the either stepping up patrols or ings but numerous police de-
Kingsway Regional School putting out messages to the partments have been unable
District Friday morning only school and community to to confirm many of them.
added to the concern from make them aware of the
parents who thought the evac- threats — even if they are un- Police and school administra-
uation had to do with the founded. In Vineland, a mes- tors have taken calls from
clown threats, according to sage was sent on Friday "not concerned parents and resi-
Superintendent James Laven- intended to raise alarm, but dents but they have also not
der. rather to make you aware." seen clowns in the area.

Lavender said that the school Police and schools responded "No, at this time it's been con-
followed proper procedures similarly in towns such as cerned inquiries only," said Lt.
for the fire alarm, having stu- Toms River, West Deptford, Joe Friel of the Evesham
dents stay on their busses and Middle Township. How- Township Police. "We've taken
during the rainy morning, but ever, police have been quick the calls but haven't actually
parents looked to social media to note the threats are un- seen anything.
for answered sending the founded and cautioned
"clown nonsense," as he against feeding into the craze. The same was said by
called it, to the top of every- Vineland Police Chief Timothy
one's concerns. "The Middle Township Police Codispoti.
Department will take appropri-
"They had no ill intention, I'm ate action against any person "It's a social media thing," he
sure, but their decision to start who uses the Creepy Clown added. "No clowns have been
spreading unfounded threats craze to cause fear or false seen here."
that originated outside of the public alarm," the department
district and potentially outside said. This was a story that appeared in
of the state, complicated our the Star Ledger on 10/03/16
procedures," Lavender said at 6. Are there really clown sight-
the time. ings in New Jersey?

"We're trying to handle their There have been a few sight- SEE SOMETHING
kids, take care of their kids, ings of clowns in the state in- SAY SOMETHING
and they're causing this hys- cluding a creepy clown riding
teria through Facebook on the hood of a hearse
posts," he added. "If you were through a Pohatcong Town-
really, truly under the impres- ship strip mall. Late Monday,
sion that killer clowns were police in Cape May County
behind the alleged threat at said there was a "reported
the school, why wouldn't you clown sighting in the Villas
call 911 instead of posting it section of Lower Township"
on Facebook?" on Sunday night and they

Clowns apparently have re- credible threats to Jersey ecutor Joseph Coronato said,
placed bomb threats at frus- Shore area schools, they will putting the blame on social
trating law enforcement and increase their presence at media for spreading the
education officials at some Toms River schools “in order threats. “Any call that comes
schools in the region. to provide an extra layer of se- in we always track but we
curity.” have absolutely have not been
The threat of a clown some- able to verify anything that
how attacking a Philipsburg School Superintendent David has come in.”
Middle School caused a shel- Healy said no early dismissals
ter-in-place to be ordered on or lockdown are in place in Stocco said the initial sight-
Friday morning as districts any Toms River school. He ings may have come from an
across New Jersey are re- said the district will reinforce “organized movie promotion
sponding to concern from
parents.

Mayor Stephen Ellis told
LehighValleyLive.com that a
construction worker reported
seeing a post on social media
that a clown was going to the
school with a gun. Captain
Robert Stettner said the
school was ordered to shel-
ter-in-place while police in-
vestigated the threat,
eventually ruling it not credi-
ble.

The school was scheduled to
have a half-day on Friday.

The clown phenomenon is its policies about not allowing and have morphed into copy-
not contained to the Garden uauthorized visitors and will cat reports throughout New
State. call police when warranted. Jersey.”

North Babylon High School on “We take the safety of your Marlboro Police spokesman
Long Island was put on “lock children very seriously and Capt. Fred Reck said his de-
out” on Friday morning when will continue to monitor all lo- partment has not received any
the school was also included cations while remaining in credible threats involving
in a social media threat, ac- communication with the clowns. “We have been moni-
cording to ABC 7 Eyewitness school system,” Healy said. toring what has been going on
News. in North Jersey but having
“We have no viable threats nothing in our area,” Reck
Toms River police spokesman that have occurred in Ocean said.
Ralph Stocco said that while County,” Ocean County Pros-
they have not received any

Ohio School Security
Officer Gets 5-Year
Sentence for Bomb
Threat

A former contract security officer
for an Ohio school district was
sentenced to five years in prison
after admitting to making a series
of anonymous bomb threats.

Do you know what It is very important that the LBPS Christopher Darnell Files, who
to say during an Emergency Drill Form be com- worked as a guard at North Car-
emergency? pleted as soon as possible. olina Hill Schools in March, was
It is now a Google Form. If you charged with three counts of in-
We here at the Long Branch need additional info please con- ducing panic and ordered to pay
Public Schools are using clear tact Walter J. O’Neill, Jr at 732- $168,724.80 in restitution.
and plain language when making 571-2868, Ext. 40911 or email at
announcements. It is recom- [email protected] North College Hill police say
mended that the following state- Files confessed to making the
ment be made when using your EMERGENCY threats and said he didn’t have a
public address system; DRILL OCTOBER bomb when they confronted him
with evidence.
“Attention, we have a 9-1-1 situ- EVACUATION
ation occurring, please remain in Police worked with cell phone
a secure location or move to a companies and used video sur-
secure area immediately and veillance footage to implicate
lockdown.” Files, who reportedly used his
cell phone to make the threats
Repeat that announcement. while working inside the school
building.
Remember, before you hold any
emergency drill contact the Long Files had only worked at the dis-
Branch Police Department at trict for two weeks when he
732-222-1000 and let them know made the threats to the middle
your school and type of drill. school and high school.
When the drill has concluded,
please call them back and let
them know the drill has com-
pleted.

Paul Porter fore the actual shooting. New Georgia Law Allows Stu-
“It’s very sad. The world today is “I told them to call the cops, be- dents to Bring Stun Guns on
quite different,” said District Su- cause I knew he had a gun be-
perintendent Gary Gellert in a fore he came there,” said High ED Campus
local interview. “Things have Chance Dobbs a classmate of
changed significantly. It used to Porter. “We called the police,
be that these threats would be they just got there too late.”
written on pieces of paper or on Dobbs was quoted in a local
a bathroom stall.” paper.

Police did not release a motive Responding officers heard the A Georgia bill that allows stu-
gunshots but arrived to find dents to bring stun guns onto
for Files calls. Porter already dead. public college campuses was
signed into law July 1, 2016. The
Mo. Teen Fatally Shoots “After he shot Payton and he law permits students to carry
Himself after Shooting swung the gun over at me, and I electroshock weapons like
hit the ground, heard a gunshot, Tasers and stun guns for protec-
School Rival and got up, and running around tion.
the truck, and Payton was under
Police say a teenager took his the truck,” Dobbs told KY3 News. Both the Savannah State Univer-
own life after shooting a former “He shot two more times under sity Public Safety University Po-
classmate three times in a Mis- the truck and Payton ran off, and lice Department and the
souri high school’s parking lot everybody else ran off. Paul was Armstrong State University Po-
July 25. standing over the truck, and I ran lice Department have been
up to him, and he shot himself preparing for the implementation
when I got there, and I grabbed of the law as it went through the
ahold of him and just held him state legislature.
there and just watched him and
screamed,” Dobbs added.

Payton Esterline, 18, was shot Porter was reportedly distraught
three times by former classmate over a recent break-up and had
Paul Porter in the Ava High been sending disturbing mes-
School parking lot around 2 a.m., sages and images to his former
reports KY3. Witnesses say girlfriend.
Porter then fatally shot himself
before police arrived.

The two teens were recent grad- Paul Porter
uates of Ava High School, had
reportedly gone to the parking lot
to fight. Police say 10 to 15 other
teens were on hand to watch the
altercation.

Sadly, police were notified of the
potential for violence minutes be-

Campus police at SSU say they around with their GPS-enabled * Iowa
will “conduct informational and or game to hunt down Pokemon.
training sessions for faculty, staff When they “find” one, the game And in Missouri, four teens re-
and students” on the devices. enables the camera so players cently used the game to lure an
ASU police said in a prepared can take a picture, like this. unsuspecting player to a gas sta-
statement that they’ve begun tion — and then robbed the vic-
providing resources for students Sounds like a fun way to get kids tim at gunpoint.
and faculty members who want moving, right?
more information on the devices.

“We’ll be reaching out in multiple
mediums, including social media,
to make the community aware
and pointing them in the right di-
rection,” says ASU Chief of Po-
lice Wayne Willcox.

Governor Nathan Deal as well as
some students and parents have
expressed support for the new
law.

Pokemon Go & security Possible downside Taking it one step further, an in-
risks: What you can do truder with harmful intentions
But what if the game randomly could meander around on cam-
Have you thought about what places Pokemon on your cam- pus, give Pokemon Go as an ex-
Pokemon Go could mean for pus? cuse when confronted, and be let
school security? go without any investigation.
Think about it: Do you really want There’s no known record of this
If you aren’t familiar with the uninvited visitors wandering happening yet, but it is plausible.
game, here’s a review: Pokemon around on your campus during
Go features the monsters from the day? Or at night? Or on What you can do
the popular 1996 series on the weekends?
Nintendo Game Boy. And the In light of some of these situa-
basic premise is the same: to Because it’s happened: Unex- tions, you might want to err on
capture, train and fight Pokemon. pected crowds that were playing the side of caution.
the game have gathered around
But in Pokemon Go, the mon- homes, businesses and Schools can apply online for Ni-
sters hide in random places in churches in: antic to remove their school from
the real world. In this augmented the game’s global map
reality game, players walk *Kansas
https://support.pokemongo.ni-
* Massachusetts anticlabs.com/hc/en-us/re-
quests/new?ticket_form_id=34
* Michigan, and 1148

Ghost Pepper Challenge

Some students in Ohio got an
early jump on Halloween by dar-
ing each other to eat “Ghost Pep-
pers.”

Yeah, that’s a real thing and it
happens to be one of the hottest
peppers in the world.

6-year-old dies after the school. Classes were can-
being shot on school celled for the remainder of the
week, and counselors were pro-
playground vided.

About 40 students took part in Here’s the latest on the tragedy Updates on other recent
the challenge at the Milton-Union in South Carolina and updates shootings
Middle School. They might’ve on four other recent school
thought about burning tongues, shooting incidents. Unfortunately, the tragedy in
but they probably didn’t expect South Carolina isn’t the only re-
other symptoms that some kids Six-year-old Jacob Hall has died cent school shooting:
suffered, like breaking out in after he was shot on the play-
hives, sweating and vomiting. ground at Townville Elementary At Alpine High School in
School. Texas, a 14-year-old girl brought
Most were treated at school, but a 9 mm semi-automatic hand-
five were taken to a nearby hos- The bullet hit Jacob’s femoral ar- gun, 18 bullets and a magazine
pital. Luckily, everyone’s recov- tery, causing massive blood loss to school and planned to shoot
ered in time to participate in more and leading to a serious brain in- her stepbrother, authorities said.
traditional Halloween activities jury, his mother said. But before she carried out the
later this month. plan, something happened in a
Two additional victims — another school restroom. There, the girl
student and a teacher — were shot a junior in the leg before fa-
treated and released. tally shooting herself in the head.
The victim’s injury was non-life-
A 14-year-old has been arrested threatening
in connection with the incident.
Authorities say the teen fatally
shot his father in the family home
before going to the elementary
school.

An unarmed firefighter has been
credited with taking the alleged
shooter down before he entered

At McCaskey High School in tim was treated on the scene by
Pennsylvania, a group was es- first responders after hitting her
corted out of the stadium during head in the aftermath of the
the fourth quarter of a football shooting. A ninth-grader was
game due to a verbal dispute. taken into custody.
Things escalated once the group In Mississippi, a Natchez High
was in the parking lot, and two School team bus was shot at
men were shot. The stadium was while traveling on a highway after
put on lockdown, and the game a football game. Bullets shat-
ended early. An unidentified 15- tered two windows, but luckily
year-old has been charged with didn’t hit anyone. However, sev-
two counts of aggravated assault eral students had to be treated
and 2,000 counts of reckless en- for glass injuries.
dangerment.

At McLain High School in Okla-
homa, shots were fired at a foot-
ball game. An eighth-grade
victim was taken to a nearby hos-
pital for treatment after a bullet
grazed his left temple. Other vic-