“Killer Clown” craze reaches Cannon Park

The “Killer Clown” craze has reached Cannon Park, with a University of Warwick student chased by men in Joker masks on Saturday night.

The craze, which is being called an epidemic, begun in America, where predominantly older teens have begun dressing as clowns in an attempt to scare children, but also to intimidate adults. There are many reports of the clowns yielding weapons.

The trend has now spread to the UK, and university campuses have particularly been targeted: one clown brandished a chainsaw at Brunel University in London, and a cyclist was chased by a group on Kent University’s campus.

Police across the USA and UK have warned that valuable time and resources are being wasted on dealing with the incidents, but also that the clowns are at risk of fines and jail time for public disorder offences.

People have even begun to fight back, with Anti-Clown Vigilante groups being set up. There are also videos online of groups chasing and attacking the clowns upon seeing them.

The event at Cannon Park occurred on Saturday 8 October at around 10:30pm and a third-year studying Law was involved.

He explained: “I saw two men wearing Joker masks on bicycles. They went on a spree and were scaremongering, chasing me with bikes as I ran to campus. They then chased back to Claycroft residences and attempted to run me down with [their] bikes. The shouted the F-word and called people around the W-word.”

He added: “I felt apprehensive after the incident because it was very unusual. However, my flat mates convinced me that it could be a joke and was not motivated in bad faith.”

The student found out about the international “Killer Clown” craze after the event, stating that that calmed his fears – he initially worried that it was a race-related attack.

It is not known who the two men are at this time, but both Cannon Park Security and Warwick’s Security Services have been made aware of the incident.