'Pop a cap' in a creepy clown, Texas police officer urges on social media
DALLAS _ A Denton, Texas, police officer urged vigilantes to make a bloody example of the next creepy clown, as hysteria over the phenomenon has spread across the country.
"This clown crap is really getting on my nerves," Officer Latrice Pettaway wrote on Facebook Monday night, according to screen shots sent to The Dallas Morning News. Denton is about 40 miles northwest of Dallas.
"Please handle it," Pettaway continued. "Pop a cap in the first clown you see. Someone needs to just hit one and the rest of these fools will learn."
Denton police said Pettaway, a sworn officer since 2014, could face an investigation if she broke the department's social media rules, though they were still looking into the post after learning of it late Tuesday morning.
"We frown upon posts like that," police spokesman Shane Kizer said. He said shooting people dressed like clowns is "absolutely not" how the department wants the public to respond to viral reports of clowns luring children in the woods, prowling backyards or standing menacingly on darkened streets.
Many of those reports turn out to be hoaxes, false rumors or misunderstandings _ like the creepy clown in Virginia who turned out to be an autistic boy showing off his Halloween mask.
Whether or not the clown menace is real, some civilians have threatened to take measures into their own hands.
But Pettaway, who could not be reached for comment, appears to be the first police officer to urge vigilante justice.
_The Dallas Morning News
