One Of The Creepy Clowns Stalking America Has Been Identified, And He’s Undeniably Harmless

Like many parts of the country, the Richmond, Virginia area has been plagued with an outbreak of “creepy clown” sightings. So when a mother and her teenage daughter spotted the above figure wearing an It “Pennywise” mask pointing and waving at drivers in Henrico County on Monday evening — where people dressed as clowns have reportedly been tapping on the windows of residents’ homes — they saw it as no laughing matter.

After Richmond’s CBS 6 ran the story, however, the culprit has been revealed (in this case, anyway), and as it turns out it’s actually a 12-year-old boy with autism. The boy’s mother Holly Brown told CBS 6 that she had been out of town on a trip, and that her son Angus, who is a huge Stephen King fan, had dressed up in the costume to surprise her when she got back. The boy’s grandmother had been driving him home when he apparently rolled down the window and started waving at drivers while wearing it.

“There was no malicious intent. He’s just a kid excited about his new costume,” Brown said about her son. “He was never a threat, and is in fact a very sweet child with autism and a new found love of Stephen King stories, hence the ‘It’ costume.”

“We all agree that he must save his Halloween costume to be worn at Halloween functions only due to the current scary-clown-sighting situation,” she said. “This clown was simply a little boy in a new toy.”

Well, that explains one creepy clown sighting, now just 5,729 to go. CBS 6 notes that in Virginia, it’s against the law “for anyone over the age of 16 to wear a clown mask, any other mask or hoodie over the face to conceal their identity.”

(Via CBS 6 Richmond)