Authorities say three men with clown masks and a gun ran from a downtown San Francisco shopping center after they were discovered by security guards on Sunday.

San Francisco Police Department spokesman Officer Carlos Manfredi said the guards were doing their rounds in the emergency stairwells in the mall when they came across the three men, the San Francisco Examiner reported. Manfredi said one brandished a gun.

No one was injured.

The men remain at large.


The report joins a growing number of incidents involving people dressed as clowns in the San Francisco Bay Area and nationwide.

Most of the threats have been hoaxes.

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