CINCINNATI -- Reading schools are closed Friday after a woman reported being attacked by a male dressed as a clown. The woman told police that her attacker made a threat against students.
No arrests have been made in the attack and schools were closed out of concern for students that walk to school early, according to the Reading Community City School District.
Mount Notre Dame High School is also closed Friday. Though no threat was made against Mount Notre Dame, the school in the 700 block of East Colombia Avenue shares a parking lot with Reading High School, which is located on the 800 block of the street.
Reading police said Kim Youngblood was smoking a cigarette on her porch at South Terrace Apartments when the clown appeared. The male grabbed Youngblood by the throat and reportedly stated, "I should just kill you now."
According to Youngblood, the clown then said "that some students and teachers would wish they were never born at the Jr. and Sr. High School today."
Youngblood told police the male fled after an alarm went off in a nearby apartment. The male grabbed Youngblood's throat harder for a second before fleeing, police stated in the release.
The male suspect was reportedly wearing a striped outfit, red wig and white clown mask.
Colerain Township arrested a juvenile in connection with a clown threat in the area late Thursday.
Police said the suspect threatened to harm students at Colerain High School on Friday.
"This suspect used the current ‘clown’ trend to further terrorize parents and students and has been charged with Making Terrorist Threats and Inducing Panic," police said in a Facebook post.
Both of these charges are felonies. Police did not reveal the name or age of the suspect.
Earlier in the day, police said posts on Twitter from an account called the Clown-Clan was causing "annoyance and alarm to communities."
It is not clear if the arrest was connected to those tweets.
Tweets from that account have mentioned several Greater Cincinnati communities and schools.
