Collier County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a series of calls regarding a suspicious incident at 7500 Davis Boulevard on Wednesday afternoon.
Kristi Lester, Media Relations Specialist for Collier County Sheriff’s Office, said in an email that initial reports stated that students had witnessed a man wearing a clown mask and carrying around a gun around the Boys and Girls Club of Collier County.
After interviewing students and staff members, deputies deemed the incident as a prank as students had not actually seen a gunman.
Lester stated that the scene has been cleared, but that the incident is still under an active investigation.
In 2016, there was a wave of clown-related sightings and hoaxes that spread throughout the country which started with reports of a clown trying to lure children into the woods in a South Carolina community last August. Law enforcement agencies around the nation dealt with a series of hoaxes, and a few legitimate threats throughout the fall last year.
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