Several northwest Indiana schools were on high alert Tuesday after a series of Facebook threats involving clowns, authorities said.
Hammond police said concerned parents and citizens alerted authorities about “threats made against City of Hammond schools by persons representing themselves as clowns.”
Threats made via Facebook posts targeted several schools in the area including Hammond High, Eggers, Gavit, Scott and Morton.
“While we do not have any information about specific threats against individual students, we are taking the information seriously and currently are investigating the matter,” Richard Hoyda with the Hammond Police Department said in a statement.
Police said there have been no reports of clown sightings in the area so far.
Hammond police officers who work off-duty at area schools are “on the lookout for any suspicious activity.”
The threats are the latest in a series of clown incidents nationwide.
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Most recently, two suburban Chicago middle schools were the subjects of a "social media hoax involving a clown persona," school officials said Monday.
Scores of Frightening Clown Sightings, Threats Reported Across the Country
A clown threat was also made against Philadelphia schools over the weekend. Philadelphia police said Monday afternoon that their investigation, along with tips from the public, helped them to identify a 13-year-old girl who they say was involved in the social media posts about clown attacks at schools.
Another 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy were arrested for allegedly making similar threats against students in New Jersey.
Two people were arrested and some Ohio schools were closed last week amid a rash of reported threats involving clowns against students in three suburban Cincinnati districts.
Police in northeastern Pennsylvania about two weeks ago said they were investigating in Pottsville after receiving a report that a 12-year-old girl and her friends were chased by a clown, who then threw a stick at them and yelled obscenities before running back into the woods. Also last week in Reading, Penn., police said a 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death after someone in a clown mask may have provoked a confrontation.
Reports of clown sightings have also surfaced in Lower Macungie, Easton, and New Jersey and South Carolina over the last several weeks.
Police in Pasco County, Fla., told NBC News they were warning young people to not dress up as clowns.
Anyone with information on the Hammond threats is being asked to call the Hammond Police Department at (219) 852-6326.
