By Tim Binnall
A sheriff's office in Ohio briefly went into lockdown following the ominous delivery of a creepy clown statue that was inexplicably left on their doorstep. According to a local media report, the bizarre incident occurred last Monday evening at the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office in the city of Warren, when a man casually strolled up to the front of the building with the curious figurine in his hands. Looking up at the security camera, the mysterious stranger made an obscene gesture and then placed the clown on the ground. He subsequently pointed his finger in a gun-like fashion before departing the scene.
Given the man's mannerisms and the very peculiar delivery that he had just left on their doorstep, the sheriff's office was understandably perturbed by the situation and locked the building down so that cops could investigate. Fortunately, they quickly determined that stranger had simply left behind a small statue that did not pose any danger. That said, the circumstances surrounding the creepy case left them rather confounded. Shortly after the media reported on the strange story, one aspect of the mystery was solved when local artist James Shuttic stepped forward to lay claim to the clown.
He explained that that he had brought the statue to his studio on the day of the incident and placed it on an electrical box outside with the intention of taking a picture of the clown to promote an upcoming show. However, a distracted Shuttic then went into the building and forgot to bring the figurine with him, which is how it is believed to have wound up in the hands of the man who brought it to the station. For his part, the amused artist insists that he did not orchestrate the odd event and that he had only heard of what happened when someone recognized the statue as his and sent him the local news story.
While the clown's backstory may have been revealed, its journey to the sheriff's office and the somewhat worrisome manner in which it was left there continue to puzzle authorities. Hoping to identify the individual who placed it on their doorstep, the department even went so far as to release security footage of the very weird event, though it is uncertain if any laws were broken during the unusual event. As for the clown, Shuttic says that it remains in the possession of the police and expressed little concern about its fate, musing that "I'm not going to miss it if I never see it again."