An Ohio father was arrested after he donned a clown mask and chased his daughter around the neighborhood before being shot at by one of his neighbors.
On Saturday, Vernon Barrett Jr. put on the mask to chase his six-year-old daughter, who ran screaming in front of a car before jumping into it. Police were alerted to the situation when a woman called the authorities to report that a man in a mask had pulled the girl from the car.
The little girl ran into a nearby apartment, which had an unlocked door, and told the family there that she was being chased by a clown, asking if she could stay with them.
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Dion Santiago, a member of the family, said that he looked out to see that Barrett Jr. was standing outside, still wearing the mask. He then fired a shotgun toward the yard of the building next door in order to scare Barrett Jr. off.
When police arrived, Santiago explained that he had been worried because of recent reports of people in clown masks chasing people.
As for Barrett Jr., he explained that he had been chasing his daughter to try to scare her into behaving, since he couldn’t spank her after her mother broke her ribs and stepped on her.
Barrett Jr. was charged with child endangerment and inducing panic. Santiago, who had a few beers before the clown-chasing began, was charged with using weapons while intoxicated.