Scary clowns terrorize Bakersfield community

Send in the clowns… oh, wait. Too late. Bakersfield beat us to it.

The streets of the California city turned nightmarish after reports flooded in claiming that clowns holding machetes and baseball bats were terrorizing the neighborhood.

“One teen was arrested on suspicion of annoying a minor after taking the prank too far,” latimes.com reports. “Police say he dressed as a clown and chased other teens, albeit without a weapon, leaving one of them ‘visibly shaken.’ As of mid-Friday, Bakersfield police had fielded 16 reports of clowns wielding weapons.”

The coulrophobic’s horror show was reportedly inspired by a married couple’s yearlong art project, featuring “Wasco Clown,” a circus figure appearing at local California establishments for photo shoots.

But police are taking the teen copycat crimes seriously.

Sgt. Joseph Grubbs of Bakersfield Police Department says the force will not hesitate to act to maintain public safety.

“We will make arrests on this,” Grubs said. “We want this to stop.”

Contact Ashley Casper at acasper@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @TheCasperA