The Wichita Police Department is investigating a series of threats made against area schools on social media. Officials say the threats were made by "creepy clowns" and are similar to incidents happening nationwide. Wichita Police said that one juvenile had been arrested as of Monday morning.
Both the Wichita and Maize School districts alerted parents after having received reports of "creepy clown" messages on Facebook. Wichita South and Wichita East high schools were mentioned in separate posts warning students to stay home. No schools in the Maize district were identified directly. Both districts say they have been working closely with area law enforcement to identify the culprits, who police say have committed a serious felony crime.
Terri Moses, executive director of safety services for Wichita Public Schools, says the threats are likely to have been influenced by similar events nationwide.
"A lot of times youngsters see something that is going on somewhere else and think that hey that would be cool to do here," Moses said in a news briefing. "And in this case, a lot of people probably thought it was cool, but it's very inappropriate."
Moses says the district is taking the threats seriously, even though others across the county have been deemed to be hoaxes.
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