Armed woman scares off clown in Auburn

AUBURN (Sun Journal) -- An Auburn woman reported a clown in the back seat of an SUV Wednesday night formed a gun shape with his fingers, pointed them at her and mouthed the word "bang" as she sat on her porch, according to the Sun Journal.

According to the Sun Journal, the woman then pulled out her legally carried 9 mm handgun and the driver of the clown car sped away.

It happened at about 5:30 p.m. on Gamage Avenue. The woman told the Sun Journal she was sitting on her porch when a black SUV stopped in front of her house.

The vehicle's rear window went down and there sat "a scary clown" in face makeup, according to the Sun Journal.

"I say, 'I'm not afraid of clowns,'" the woman told the Sun Journal said. "I started laughing. It's almost Halloween, so I didn't think too much about it."

Then the clown formed a gun shape with his fingers, the woman said, and mouthed the word “bang.”

"I picked up my 9 mm — I didn't point it at him directly," the woman told the Sun Journal, "and said, 'Back at ya, clown.'"

The woman, who did not want to be identified, reported the incident to police.

There were people walking in the area when the encounter occurred, she told the Sun Journal. There were children outside playing and she thought of how things might have played out if the situation had turned ugly.

"It seems like something bad is going to happen," she told the Sun Journal.

What began as a series of unsettling clown encounters over the summer has since spread to other parts of the U.S., including Maine.

Clown encounters have been reported in Bath, Kennebunk, Gorham, Orono and Wells.

You can read more at sunjournal.com.