A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to up to five years in prison this week for firing a shotgun at his home because he feared there were clowns inside.

“At first, they were curled up in a ball, but then they started to run around, so I tried to shoot them,” Nathan Matthias told Reading cops, according to court documents obtained by WFMZ.

The 35-year-old Matthias, who was drunk at the time, said he was aiming at “two small clowns” in the Reading home during the incident in December of 2016. Investigators did not find anyone inside of his second-floor apartment, and said the shooting put his neighbor on the first floor of the building in danger.

Police say they found Matthias clutching a shotgun outside his house.


A bottle of vodka was found on his person, and he smelled of alcohol, according to WFMZ. Asked if he had anything to drink, he told cops, “only a sip,” according to the network.

Matthias pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm and to an unrelated drunk driving charge earlier this year, according to the Reading Eagle. He was given a sentence of 22 months to five years in state prison during an appearance in Berks County Court on Monday.

He is being credited with the nearly 500 days he has already served in prison, according to the newspaper.

Lawyer Eugene Tinari spoke in court of Matthias’ battles with alcohol, and said that his client had “some type of hallucinatory event” and was not trying to harm anyone, according to the Reading Eagle.


With News Wire Services