By BLAKE DESHAZO | Staff Writer

Clowns were the talk of the town in Selma after one was reportedly seen walking down the railroad tracks Monday night on Highway 219.

“Officers went out there, and they couldn’t find anybody,” Brock said. “They rode through the neighborhoods … and back in that area to see if anybody had seen anything. Nobody saw anything.”

Brock said officers spent the better part of two hours searching for the reported clown.

The call came in Monday night between 7:30-8 p.m., but the biggest danger seemed to be the people looking for said clown.

“Getting out and going clown hunting is not what you need to be doing,” Brock said.

“We don’t need people out there wandering around and running around with guns shooting at suspicious people dressed like clowns.”

After the sighting was reported on social media, many people made posts claiming to be out looking for the clown with weapons and threatening to shoot them.

“They had guns in their car, and they were going clown hunting,” Brock said.

“I tell people all the time, if you see something suspicious, call me. Call the police. Let the police handle it.”

Even if there was someone dressed up like a clown, there is nothing against the law that says someone can’t dress like one.

“It’s not against the law to dress like a clown. It is against the law to harass, intimidate or threaten somebody,” Brock said. “If someone is dressed like that and they do all that, yes, they will be charged for it.”

Schools have also been getting threats through social media, but none have turned out to be credible in Selma and Dallas County so far.

“We got calls today about one of the schools, and we took care of that,” Brock said. “We had officers at the school, but nobody showed up.”

Wallace Community College Selma was one of many schools that took precaution today by checking identification for everyone entering campus.

Chief Brock urges people to call 911 if they see something suspicious, but to not make false claims and get people on high alert.

“The police department has more important things to do than chase clowns,” Brock said.

“We’ve got homicides we’re working on, we’ve got thefts we’re working on and we’ve got other crimes we’re working on that are a lot more important than us out trying to find a clown walking down the tracks.”