The account boasted a “scary” clown profile picture and disseminated the same threat to students living as far away as Stilwell, though when sheriff’s deputies first received information about the threat they didn’t know that, Chennault said. One of the students who received the threat that night took the information to deputies. That student attends Woodall Public School, which was put on lockdown Thursday. Soon investigators determined that the threats had been received countywide and weren’t targeting a particular school.

Through a Facebook post just before noon, officials with Tahlequah Public Schools acknowledged the threat and indicated there were others across the county.

“This type of information spreads quickly, so we want you to know that our School Resource Officers are on alert and are taking every precaution to keep your children safe,” the statement says.

The post never mentions a clown, but Chennault confirmed that the post is about the clown threats.

About an hour after the post, deputies traced the IP address from the anonymous account to a 12-year-old girl, a seventh-grader at one of the area schools. She admitted to sending the threats, Chennault said.