Clown attempts to kidnap Concord toddler

A man dressed as a clown tried to take a 1-year-old child from a Concord bus stop Wednesday afternoon as social media threats of “creepy clowns” have been reported throughout the area, police said.

Dispatchers received a call at about 1 p.m. of a suspicious situation at a bus stop at Willow Pass Road and Waterworld Parkway where they learned that a man in dressed in a clown costume and a blue wig approached a woman and her child.

The clown and the woman had a short conversation when the clown grabbed and pulled on the child’s left arm.

The woman responded by kicking the clown in the shin and the man ran away east on Willow Pass Road toward Market Street. The man was not wearing face paint.

Police searched the area but did not see the man.

The number of social media threats toward Bay Area schools by “creepy clowns” has grown after some were reported Monday toward schools in Oakland and Fairfield.

Antioch police were dispatched at 10:57 a.m. Tuesday to Dallas Ranch Middle School on a report of posts saying clowns were going to shoot at the school.

Burlingame police said they were made aware of posts claiming that people dressed as clowns were going to show up at Peninsula schools including some in Burlingame.

Similar threats have been made in other parts of the country, police said. The threats started on the East Coast and have recently made their way west.

Police in Fairfield were made aware of threats directed toward schools in the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District on Monday at around 7:45 p.m.

Fairfield police Lt. Rob Lenke said the threats received Monday night on Twitter said, “Be ready, we’re coming to your school” and “We’re coming to get you.” There were also specific references to killing and kidnapping that might occur at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Lenke said.

Officials in the Oakland Unified School District told parents Tuesday afternoon that threats had been made toward schools in Oakland, district spokesman John Sasaki said.

Sasaki would not name the schools, but he would say most of the threats were being made on Instagram.

He said that the threats so far have been hoaxes.