Man believed clowns were attacking home

Police responded early on Friday to a call of shots fired at a home in Roberts and found a man apparently hallucinating an attack by clowns. The 40-year-old man, armed with a shotgun, had fired several shots in his mother's home. It also appeared that he fired a shot at his mother and visiting father as they fled from the home in a vehicle, said St. Croix County Sheriff Dennis Hillstead. "Pellets probably hit their windshield," Hillstead said.

Police arrived at about 4 a.m. and surrounded the home. The man came to the door at one point and was "yelling at what he could see in the yard, but there was nothing there," Hillstead said. The man went back into the home and fired more rounds, Hillstead said. In total, about 22 shotgun rounds were fired into the walls and ceiling of the home. The man then went to the porch with the shotgun in hand and a bag of ammunition around his neck. He did not respond to police commands, but after the man slipped and fell, deputies were able to take him into custody, Hillstead said.



While being taken to a hospital for examination, the man indicated he had taken a hallucinogenic drug. He said he believed that people dressed as clowns were attacking his mother's home and that he had shot and killed a number of them, Hillstead said. He also said he had shot dogs that were attacking him and that his mother had been shot and killed. "He was ... not in touch with reality," Hillstead said.

No one was injured in the incident. The man, who was visiting from Arizona, is being held in a mental facility while he undergoes a psychological evaluation, Hillstead said. He has not been charged with a crime, and police have not released his name.