Local law enforcement agencies deemed reports of individuals dressed as clowns and roaming Oktibbeha County apartment complexes as a hoax Tuesday after social media posts spread the unsubstantiated claims.
A joint release issued by the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office and Starkville Police Department states OCSD received two third-party calls about an individual dressed as a clown in the Highlands, but neither caller was a direct witness to the situation.
The callers, the release states, were informing deputies about the individual “on behalf of friends.”
An investigation revealed both numbers used to phone in the reports are now out of service, the release states.
“At this point, (OCSD) believes that these were hoax calls that have since been exacerbated on social media,” the release states. “There were no other direct witness sightings reported to either agency.”
The Dispatch observed tweets mentioning Starkville and clowns armed with knives and in the vicinity of numerous student housing locations — the Highlands, the Pointe at MSU and others — posted to Twitter beginning about 10 p.m. Monday.
This summer, reports of individuals dressed as clowns first emerged in South Carolina and continued to Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and North Carolina.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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