Masks found near Puyallup's Rogers High after reports of clown with knife

PUYALLUP, Wash. -  A tense, confusing week in the Puyallup School District continued Tuesday as Emerald Ridge High School was closed and one girl was arrested for making online threats, while two clown masks were found on a trail near Rogers High School following a report of a clown armed with a knife near the school.

The threats at Emerald Ridge were not clown-related, police said. Glacier View Junior High also closed Tuesday because of its proximity to Emerald Ridge.

Police are still investigating the report of the armed clown at Rogers – which, coincidentally, was placed on modified lockdown Monday following a separate, non-clown-related threat made against specific students.



Deputies said the Rogers students who were affected in the non-clown threat had been contacted.

In the Emerald Ridge incident, Puyallup police made an arrest Tuesday afternoon and served a search warrant at a home in Puyallup earlier in the day related to the incident, which began with a threat on an online forum in Europe targeting specific students.

Police said the threat doesn’t appear related to terrorism, and the investigation is ongoing.

According to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, 911 dispatchers have received 17 different clown-related calls across the county in the last three weeks. Eleven of those calls have come in the past two days.

"These calls are primarily reported as suspicious persons and vehicles," deputies said. "There have been no confirmed assaults or weapons recovered."

Here’s a summary of the confusing events:

Emerald Ridge High School


    Rogers High School


      Glacier View Junior High School