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.”
