Wichita district, police investigating ‘creepy clown’ threats

The Wichita school district has received threats against specific schools on social media coming from so-called “creepy clown” accounts, district officials said Sunday.

In an e-mail sent to parents shortly before 9 p.m., Wichita superintendent John Allison said the district has shared the messages with Wichita police, who are investigating.

“While we believe the messages to be hoaxes, we will nonetheless be extra-vigilant tomorrow as students and staff return to school,” Allison said in the e-mail.

Similar threats coming from accounts that seem to associate with a recent wave of people dressing and posing on social media as clowns in an attempt to frighten and harass were received by several school districts around the country this weekend.

A post received by the Philadelphia school district threatened to “blow up” that school district’s headquarters building, according to news reports.

The e-mail from Allison did not specify the nature of the threats made against Wichita schools or which schools were targeted.

District spokeswoman Susan Arensman said comments made on Facebook were reported to district officials.

“We encourage you send any posts of concern to the Wichita Public Schools (@wichitausd259), and those will be shared with law enforcement as well,” the e-mail said.

Related: Creepy clown hoaxes lead to 12 arrests in multiple states

This story was originally published October 2, 2016 at 9:45 PM with the headline "Wichita district, police investigating ‘creepy clown’ threats."