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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) - Scary clowns have gotten a little too real
for Target.

Two weeks before Halloween, the company is pulling some clown
masks off its shelves and out of its online store after
sightings of menacing clowns across the country.

Police in Greenville, South Carolina, were alerted this summer
to clowns trying to lure children from an apartment complex into
the woods. In Texas and West Virginia, people dressed as clowns
were arrested this month for chasing strangers with sticks and
baseball bats.

Gunmen in clown masks have reportedly robbed gas stations in
Ohio and Kentucky, and robbers in clown masks reportedly hit
Taco Bell and Domino's restaurants in Phoenix. On Sunday, a man
in Los Angeles County was reportedly arrested for shooting at a
clown who brandished a knife.

"Given the current environment," Target spokesman Joshua Thomas
said, "we have made the decision to remove a variety of clown
masks from our assortment, both in stores and online."

Home Depot took a similar step last month and pulled a Halloween
decoration called the Scary Peeper Creeper from its stores in
Canada following complaints from shoppers.

Target declined to say which masks it pulled. Some were still
available at Target.com on Monday via links to Spirit
Halloween.com and HalloweenCostumes.com. For example, Target was
selling a "horror clown mask" for $19.99 through Spirit
Halloween.

Randy Christensen, president of the World Clown Association,
which was founded in 1982 and has an annual convention, took no
position on Target's decision. But he drew a distinction between
horror as an entertainment genre and something darker.

"We are against any usage of a clown-masked persona to terrorize
the general public," he told CNNMoney.

http://www.local10.com/news/weird-news/target-removes-clown- masks-after-series-of-creepy-clown-sightings
 

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