What a clown.
A creepy intruder in a “Pennywise’’ mask busted into a Tennessee garden center and swiped a saw blade — before being spooked by a sound over the store’s intercom and fleeing.
The unidentified, flashlight-wielding burglar — who wore a blue jacket and white mask wreathed with wild orange hair a la Stephen King’s killer-clown “It” character — kicked in a back fence on a rainy day last week to break into JVI Secret Gardens in Donelson, according to News Channel 5 Nashville.
The store’s owner, Derek Johnson, told the network that a business partner watched on the shop’s security cameras as the “Pennywise” lookalike shuffled around.
The partner told Johnson to get over there as soon as he could.
“ ‘Hey, there’s someone at the garden center wearing a white mask, you need to get up there right now,’ ” Johnson recalled his colleague telling him.
But one look at the footage convinced Johnson otherwise.
“I said, ‘Nope, I’m not going up there,’ ” he said with a laugh.
Instead, Johnson tried to talk to the burglar through the camera speaker — and that did the trick.
“When I clicked the speaker, I think it made a noise, and he acknowledged it and said, ‘I’m leaving’ and jetted,” Johnson said.
When Johnson arrived afterward, he noticed that the intruder had tried to jack a propane tank and made off with a circular saw blade, he said.
“Here’s a creepy clown,” the owner said. “He stole a saw blade.”
Cops are still investigating the incident — but it’s not the first time the store’s been hit by thieves.
Johnson said the string of break-ins will likely lead to the installation of a few more cameras.
“I feel like it may be the same individual because we had another tank like that stolen six months ago,” he said. “They stole a tool bag and came in the same spot.”
Johnson told the network that he’s happy no one got hurt — but the crime still gave him a shiver.
“I’m processing,” he said. “This is a sweet little garden center. It’s Donelson. I really don’t know why people would break into a garden center of all places.”
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