Victim reports being shot by clowns, later recants

At least one of three reported clown sightings in Macon this week has turned out to be a hoax.

About 5:50 a.m. Thursday, Bibb County sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a person shot in the 900 block of Tenney Avenue, which runs between Jeff Davis Street and Felton Avenue.

Marvin Leon Cooper, 24, who appeared to have sustained a superficial leg wound, claimed to have been shot by people dressed as clowns who got out of a car at Murphey Homes, or Alphabet City, as it also is known.

Right away, investigators doubted his story.

“They are checking to make sure it’s from a bullet and this isn’t a hoax,” said Cpl. Linda Howard, a public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office.

Cooper was taken by ambulance to the Medical Center, Navicent Health, about a mile and a half away.

Howard later confirmed that the man had been shot but not by clowns.

He told deputies “he lied about the clowns because he was scared to report he was shot over drugs,” Howard said.

Cooper told investigators at the hospital that an unknown man had asked him for drugs.

When he replied that he did not have any and started to walk away, Cooper was shot, according to a Sheriff’s Office release.

Cooper did not know what street he was on, nor could he describe the shooter.

Howard said the shooting happened about 5 a.m., but Cooper reported it 50 minutes later.

This is at least the third time this week that deputies were called about clown mischief in Macon.

About 8:30 a.m. Thursday, a deputy was called to the West Club Apartments, where someone dressed as a clown reportedly frightened children at a bus stop at the complex.

When deputies arrived at the apartments on Steven Drive off Mercer University Drive, they did not find a clown on the property.

Tuesday, a mother reported that her children said clowns chased them from the bus stop at Elkan Avenue and Dapleton Drive, which is off Rocky Creek Road and about 10 miles from the reported shooting location at Murphey Homes.

Although nothing was found Tuesday, a deputy kept watch Wednesday at the bus stop.

Anyone with information in either incident is asked to call the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at 478-751-7500 or report tips anonymously to Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 877-68-CRIME.

This story was originally published September 15, 2016 at 7:37 AM with the headline "Victim reports being shot by clowns, later recants."