With those pop-up Halloween stores appearing in run-down strip centers across the land and the remake of Stephen King’s ‘It’ packing them into theaters, the coulrophobics among us are no doubt having a hard time these days. So for all of you yuk-meisters who think it’s the height of fun to terrorize people while wearing a Pennywise mask, it’s good to know when to say when.
At about 10 p.m. local time on Saturday, 25-year-old Vernon Barrett was wearing a clown mask and chasing his 6-year-old daughter outside their apartment in Boardman, Ohio, according to Youngstown’s WKBN-TV.
According to witnesses, the girl, obviously terrified, was screaming and ran into the unlocked apartment of neighbor Dion Santiago, 48.
According to wfmj.com . . .
…Santiago, who lives in the apartment, told police that when the girl ran in, he turned off the lights, looked out the apartment window and saw a man dressed in a clown mask on the lawn outside.
That probably didn’t look creepy at all.
Santiago decided it he’d seen enough clowning around and went full Joe Biden.
According to the report, Santiago told officers that he grabbed his firearm and fired one gunshot out of the window. The report goes on to say that Santiago later told officers that he had not pointed the gun at the man in the mask, or into the air.
Police say that they smelled alcohol on Santiago, who reportedly admitted to officers that he was drinking a few beers while watching a fight on TV when the girl came into his apartment.
If, like the former veep, you were unaware, warning shots are illegal in many, if not most jurisdictions. So this all ended pretty much as you’d expect, though the local 5-0 didn’t charge him with discharging a firearm in the city limits.
Barrett (above left) was arrested for child endangering and inducing panic. Meanwhile, officers also arrested Santiago (above right) for one charge of operating a firearm while intoxicated.
No word yet as to the state of the terrified 6-year-old little girl. Or who’s going to pay for the therapy she’ll likely need in the years ahead.