by Loren Coleman, Author of The Copycat Effect. (New York: Paraview Pocket-Simon and Schuster, 2004.)
Following in the tradition of my list from 2008, my notes on evil clowns (and Joker clones) that turned up in 2009, and my documenting of real killer clowns in 2010, here is a random "top ten" gathering of "evil clown" stories for 2011.
(1) Clown Caught on Tape Stealing Cash Register
An evil clown stole a cash register on December 8, 2011, from the K-Mart at Mohawk and Huron streets, Corpus Christi, Texas.
(2) Insane Clown Hits Hobo Pantry
According to a Dothan, Alabama police statement, a robbery took place around 12:45 a.m. on Tuesday, April 26, 2011, at the Hobo Pantry store. The police reported a man armed with knife stole some cash and ran from the store toward Westgate Parkway.The robber as a white male, about 6 feet tall, who weighed 175 to 180 pounds, had blue or green eyes, wore desert camouflage pants, a black hooded sweater with red and green animated pictures on it along with the black and white Insane Clown Posse mask over his head.
(3) Kent Clown Caught At Chatham
Mitchell Woods, 17, of Thrasher Close, Haggerston, East London, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Monday, May 9, 2011, after pleading guilty to possessing a prohibited firearm and possessing ammunition without a certificate, to three years in jail. On January 29, 2011, Woods was arrested by a Kent Police Armed Response unit at Higham rail station, after officers were called to the station by a concerned member of the public, who, while waiting for a train at Chatham, overheard Woods talking to some friends about carrying a gun. The Hackney teenager was caught carrying a loaded gun and a clown mask (seen above) on a train in Kent. The gun had been previously used in three gang-related shootings in London, one in which someone had been shot three times with the weapon, according to media accounts.
(4) Clown Uses Car To Hit & Drag Person
On Tuesday, May 10, 2011, Andrew Joseph Davis, 20, was arrested for running down a person with his car and dragging the individual 100 feet. The Oklahoma incident resulted in the above mug shot of Davis, which was published by Smoking Gun.
Police were called after eyewitnesses saw a driver wearing the distinctive face paint swerve across the road near Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and hit a pedestrian before accelerating. Nearby residents reported that the two men in the black-colored sedan shouted "Woop! Woop!" as they zoomed away from the scene.
At about 8 PM local time (2000 GMT) on Tuesday, March 22, 2011, two men with baseball bats called to a flat in Barnagh Grove and assaulted the 42-year-old who lives there. The man's arm was broken and he suffered other injuries. He was taken to a hospital for treatment, according to the BBC.
Police said the attackers were wearing "clown-type masks" and black clothing. This assault by two men wearing clown masks took place in Donaghadee, a small town (population about 6,500) in County Down, Northern Ireland. The town lies about 18 miles (29 km) east of Belfast. Donaghadee is known as a significant site from the Irish Rebellion of 1798. On the morning of Pike Sunday, June 10, 1798, a force of United Irishmen (a guerilla force, not unlike the revolutionaries contemporary in America and France), mainly from Bangor, Donaghadee, Greyabbey and Ballywalter, Ireland, attempted to occupy the town of Newtownards. They met with musket fire from the market house and were defeated.
(6) Clowns Want To Be Plez'ed
Law enforcement officials in Anderson, South Carolina, said a robber wearing a clown mask held up a convenience store at gunpoint on Wednesday night, December 28, 2011. Employees at the Plez U on Concord Road were playing cards when a 5' 7" person with a male voice walked in around 9 p.m. wearing a green and white mask with red hair, a brown hoodie, and gloves.
The person showed a silver revolver and demanded money from the cash register. The person then left after telling everyone inside that they had five seconds to get on the floor.
The robbery is one of three during December 2011, in Anderson County, involving someone wearing a mask and holding up a store at gunpoint. On Old Williamston Road, a High Volume convenience store was robbed Dec. 14 by a man also wearing a clown mask. Investigators say the mask is similar to the one worn by the person at the Plez U. Surveillance video also shows that on Dec. 8, a Stop-A-Minit in Belton was robbed by a man wearing an alien mask and carrying a gun.
(7) Serial Killer Clown's Paintings Go On Sale
In May 2011, it was announced that the paintings of John Wayne Gacy were trying to be sold. Gacy is the Evil Clown come to Earth; he raped and murdered 33 young men and boys in the 1970s. Yes, he also did some art in prison. During 2011, according to the Big Picture, "an art gallery in Las Vergas [sic] is trying to selling [sic] the paintings to raise money for the National Center for Victims of Crime."
The organization, however, petitioned to have its name removed from any connection to this auction, to the Las Vegas gallery, and to the artwork.
(8) Californian Kier Charged With Attempted Montana Murder
A California man faces three felony charges, including attempted murder, after police say he stabbed a Kalispell, Montana, homeowner during a December 12, 2011, home invasion because “it felt good.”
Prosecutors with the Flathead County Attorney’s Office have charged Dante Kirpal Kier, 19, of Santa Barbara, Calif., with attempted deliberate homicide, aggravated burglary and assault with a weapon. All three charges are felonies.
Homeowner Brian Bay was fixing the dishwasher in his southeast Kalispell house when he went out to the garage to get a tool. His wife and children were home as well. When he returned inside, Bay said he saw Kier in the hallway. Bay confronted the intruder, who had a weapon in his hand. During the confrontation, Kier allegedly stabbed Bay in the upper arm and inside his mouth. Kier then tried to stab Bay in the ribs numerous times with what turned out to be a wood-handled steak knife. Investigators said the blade was “bent severely” after the stabbing. Bay wrestled Kier to the ground and held him while his wife called the police at about 9:35 p.m. Officers arrived and arrested Kier. Police say Bay’s wife and children were unharmed during the incident.
When police officers canvassed the neighborhood, several of the Bays’ neighbors said they found notes on their windows that said, “Your house is being watched tonight by … the creeps.”
Kier also allegedly told police that he is a member of the Insane Clown Posse gang, and referred to himself as a Juggalo. (There's a long documented history and debate about ICP-inspired crime, see here and here, but this specific list is about the clown aspect, please note.)
Dante Kier called himself "Refry Demon" online.
A California man faces three felony charges, including attempted murder, after police say he stabbed a Kalispell, Montana, homeowner during a December 12, 2011, home invasion because “it felt good.”
Prosecutors with the Flathead County Attorney’s Office have charged Dante Kirpal Kier, 19, of Santa Barbara, Calif., with attempted deliberate homicide, aggravated burglary and assault with a weapon. All three charges are felonies.
Homeowner Brian Bay was fixing the dishwasher in his southeast Kalispell house when he went out to the garage to get a tool. His wife and children were home as well. When he returned inside, Bay said he saw Kier in the hallway. Bay confronted the intruder, who had a weapon in his hand. During the confrontation, Kier allegedly stabbed Bay in the upper arm and inside his mouth. Kier then tried to stab Bay in the ribs numerous times with what turned out to be a wood-handled steak knife. Investigators said the blade was “bent severely” after the stabbing. Bay wrestled Kier to the ground and held him while his wife called the police at about 9:35 p.m. Officers arrived and arrested Kier. Police say Bay’s wife and children were unharmed during the incident.
When police officers canvassed the neighborhood, several of the Bays’ neighbors said they found notes on their windows that said, “Your house is being watched tonight by … the creeps.”
Kier also allegedly told police that he is a member of the Insane Clown Posse gang, and referred to himself as a Juggalo. (There's a long documented history and debate about ICP-inspired crime, see here and here, but this specific list is about the clown aspect, please note.)
(9) Clown Arrested On Rape Charges
A cold case of a clown raping a young girl was solved in Fullerton, California, in October 2011.
See the video report here.
(10) Killer Santa Strikes Again
My 2008 list ended with the ultimate evil twisted clown-like finale to the year of 2008, when a costumed man, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, plotting revenge against his ex-wife, dressed up in a Santa Claus suit, went to his former in-laws' Christmas Eve party and slaughtered nine people. He then burned their house down before killing himself hours later. The Killer Santa killings took place on East Knollcrest Drive, Covina, California.
It happened again, in 2011.
Grapevine, a Dallas suburb, is dubbed the "Christmas Capital of Texas." It was there where a Christmas Day rampage occurred. A gunman who killed six people and himself at a family Christmas celebration was dressed in a Santa Claus suit when he opened fire, local police said. The dead were four women and three men, ages 15 to 59. The victims appeared to have just opened Christmas presents when the shooting started in the Lincoln Vineyards, a middle-income complex near Colleyville Heritage High School, one of the area's most highly regarded schools.
Authorities later identified the shooter as a 56-year-old Persian man, Aziz Yazdanpanah, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His wife, with whom he was having marital and financial problems, like Aziz, was born in Iran; their children were American-born.
(+ 2012) Santa Again
The Daily Star is reporting that on Christmas Eve, Friday, January 6, 2012, (the Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem is one of the Orthodox churches that celebrate Christmas on January 7th, following the Julian calendar), there has been another Santa suit murder.
Six Israeli Arabs have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Christmas Eve killing of a prominent Christian leader in Jaffa by a man reportedly wearing a Santa suit, police say. Lawyer and accountant Gabriel Cadis was stabbed fatally on Friday after a parade in the historic Mediterranean port district marking the day before Christmas, according to the calendar followed by the Greek Orthodox Church in the Holy Land.
Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri noted, "The killer could have been disguised as Father Christmas but we're not sure."
"Initial inquiries suggest that there was not a nationalist motive to the murder, that is to say that it was not connected to the Arab-Jewish conflict. We are following all leads, including rumours of a dispute within the Greek Orthodox community in Jaffa over the victim's recent re-election as leader of the Jaffa Orthodox Church Association," she said.
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(+ 2012) Santa Again
The Daily Star is reporting that on Christmas Eve, Friday, January 6, 2012, (the Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem is one of the Orthodox churches that celebrate Christmas on January 7th, following the Julian calendar), there has been another Santa suit murder.
Six Israeli Arabs have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Christmas Eve killing of a prominent Christian leader in Jaffa by a man reportedly wearing a Santa suit, police say. Lawyer and accountant Gabriel Cadis was stabbed fatally on Friday after a parade in the historic Mediterranean port district marking the day before Christmas, according to the calendar followed by the Greek Orthodox Church in the Holy Land.
Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri noted, "The killer could have been disguised as Father Christmas but we're not sure."
"Initial inquiries suggest that there was not a nationalist motive to the murder, that is to say that it was not connected to the Arab-Jewish conflict. We are following all leads, including rumours of a dispute within the Greek Orthodox community in Jaffa over the victim's recent re-election as leader of the Jaffa Orthodox Church Association," she said.
Top Ten Evil Clown Stories of 2011
© Loren Coleman, 2012
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Interesting collection -
ReplyDeleteDante Kier at No.8
His act took place in Kali-Spell, and perhaps his clown mask is not too unlike the face of Kali with her red tongue and lips.
It also links with hell via his name Dante
cheers
David Pescovitz has posted this list on Boing Boing on 1-11-2012:
ReplyDeletehttp://boingboing.net/2012/01/11/last-years-list-of-evil-clow.html
The Oklahoma one doesn't surprise me. Bartlesville is just crawling with ICP.
ReplyDeleteWas this a Lapsus Linguae or was it subconcious? I noticed while reading the No.7 clown "Gacey", that it mentions he raped and murdered young men. I also noticed what appeared to be a typo in which the city of "Las Vergas" is mentioned. For those of us that are not familiar with mexican street spanish, let me enlighten you, "Las Vergas" translates to "The Penises". No wonder the victims group would have nothing to do with it...
ReplyDeleteNIce catch on that 'Vergas' , doubtless a little joke of the mocking kind, as the exhibition will be of course, dismissing the victims for , as I have just seen, utter f***ing crap [ badly drawn photos and Disney cartoons].
ReplyDeleteHere's asnippet from an article where they talk about his ......work
""Multiples: The Artwork of John Wayne Gacy," is meant to reflect the multiple aspects of his life, according to johnwaynegacyart.com, a website set up to promote the show.
"We are familiar with multiple aspects of Gacy's story. He worked multiple jobs, lived multiple lives and committed multiple crimes," the site said. "What we are unfamiliar with is the art Gacy created while awaiting execution: multiple paintings."
Patronising artspiel, as in 'Thank God for serial killers or we would never have had this opportunity ..........'
cheers