UPDATE:Two 13-year-old girls were charged in connection to online threatening posts lodged against Ansonia schools.
Ansonia police announced the arrests Wednesday morning.
“As a result of the investigation (two) suspects were identified and taken into custody without incident. The juvenile suspects, both female and age 13, were charged with threatening first degree, breach of peace second degree, conspiracy to commit threatening first degree, and breach of peace second degree. The suspects were referred to Juvenile Court.”
Police will still have an increased presence today at city schools.
Police said the girls charged in connection with the bomb threat are local residents and were not involved in a similar threat made in Naugatuck.
Later Wednesday police announced that a 16-year-old female had been charged with making a separate threat against Emmett O’Brien Technical High School.
“School administrators notified an officer stationed at the school that students had complained about another student posting a threat to have clowns come to the school and shoot people,” police said in a prepared statement. “A 16-year-old female was identified as the suspect and taken into custody without incident. The suspect was charged with threatening first degree and breach of peace second degree, and referred to juvenile court.”
Original story follows:
There will be more police officers at Ansonia schools today thanks to a threat posted by an Instragram clown.
Someone using the name “ansonia_clown” threatened to shoot people at Ansonia High School and Ansonia Middle School Tuesday.
The person used a menacing-looking clown as his or her avatar on the social media site (see photo).
The posts spread quickly, prompting Ansonia police to acknowledge the issue on the department’s Facebook page Tuesday evening.
“The Ansonia Police Department is aware of the social media postings threatening violence at the Ansonia schools,” the post read.
“While we do not believe the threats to be credible we are investigating and will have increased police presence at all schools tomorrow.”
The clown threats are emerging as the modern day bomb threat for schools.
The posts from “ansonia_clown” are similar to threats posted Monday involving Naugatuck.
Naugatuck police said Tuesday they arrested two teens under the age of 14 in connection with the threats. One of the children is from Naugatuck, the other from Stratford.
Both children are female.
“The arrests stem from a social media profile named the girls created by the name of “Jackson the Clown” with a posting of “Will be in Naugatuck / Be careful / Lock your doors / which school wanna go first?” The posts were made with various photos of clowns attached,” according to a statement from Naugatuck police.
The two suspects were charged with disorderly conduct and conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct.
Meanwhile, in Ansonia, police are asking anyone with information to contact them.
“We ask anyone with specific information regarding the person or persons responsible for the postings to contact the Ansonia Police Department at 203 – 735-1885,” police said in a statement.
Reports of people dressed as “creepy clowns” have flooded news stories across the country in recent weeks.
New Haven police held a press conference Tuesday to talk about their clown issues.
Slate published a blog post Oct. 3 saying creepy clowns have been making appearances at various places in the U.S. since 1981.
The online magazine notes some of the reports are of a dubious nature.
Surprisingly, the creepy clowns predate Stephen King’s iconic novel, “It,” which featured a murderous clown.
Here’s a report on the clown wave from WTNH:
