A 17-year-old was shot in the face, apparently with a BB gun, early Thursday morning during his attempt to have fun with the recent sensation caused by a clown sighted throughout McComb.
For much of Wednesday and Thursday night, Daniel Costilow said he was enjoying his own mini-celebrity status as a copycat clown, and entertaining McComb kids and adults alike. A string of pictures of Costilow in a red, yellow and blue clown suit illustrates the night and early morning events at Walmart, McDonalds and other McComb spots.
“I was taking pictures with the kids and the adults. There are dozens of pictures of me all over town. I was having a good time, doing what McClown did,” Costilow said.
But the fun came to an abrupt end when he was confronted by two other teens.
Costilow said his last stop was the McComb parking garage, one of the places McClown — who turned out to be WAKH radio DJ Dave Hughes — was pictured. By then, it was early Thursday morning, approximately 1 to 1:30, Costilow said. That’s when a car drove by south on North Front Street.
“You’re gonna die tonight,” a man screamed at Costilow, shooting at least three shots into the air as he and his companion drove by.
Costilow said he then attempted to flee the scene but before he could, the car pulled back around.
This time the two got out of the car and approached Costilow, who said he then took off his clown mask.
“I wanted to let them know that there was someone under the mask. That I had a face,” he said.
At first all seemed to be well as the two men took pictures of their own with their phones. Both men positioned the cameras high into the air when they took the pictures, Costilow said. Pictures would show him in his clown suit looking up at the cameras.
“You should be more careful. It’s dangerous to be wearing a clown suit in McComb now,” one warned. Then the two men then left.
But before Costilow could leave the parking garage, the two men drove back a third time. After calling Costilow to their car, one man pulled what appeared to be a pellet handgun with a CO2 cartridge attached to it and shot him point blank in the face.
Costilow then headed to Taco Bell, where he chased down a Pike County Sheriff’s deputy. That’s when he told deputies his story.
A McComb police officer then talked to him.
“I seriously thought they were trying to kill me,” Costilow said of the two men.
Thinking his night was over, Costilow drove away. On the way, he said he then spotted the same car the two men were driving in.
Costilow followed the vehicle to get a tag number and make and model of the vehicle, which he then gave to police.
Thursday morning, Detective Deska Varnado said police were investigating a rash of vehicle vandalisms where at least 30 vehicle windows were shot out with a BB gun the same night and early morning that Costilow was shot.
Police Lt. Steve Powell said officers were able to track down a vehicle fitting the tag description Costilow gave them but did not find a match. Police continue to follow leads in the investigation, Powell said.
A picture taken Saturday night by his mother, Hayle Whitehead shows the mark from the pellet lodged just under Costilow’s right eyebrow. In the picture, Costilow is seen with a puffed up right eyelid.
Another picture shows the rubber clown mask with a hole just above black markings running down the rightside. The hole is located just above the eye socket.
“If it weren’t for his mask, I’m sure it would have been much worse,” Whitehead said. “I’m just glad he’s OK. This could have turned out a lot worse.”
A private doctor will remove the pellet from her son’s eye later in the week once the swelling has gone down, Whitehead said.
While most of the comments were lighthearted and supportive of the McClown prank on the Enterprise-Journal website this week, others were more somber and even dangerous in tone. Some even expressed a fear that something violent could happen.
“I think its time to put the prank to rest.I hope he or she don’t get hurt,” Barbara Ashley posted. “Yes, I think clowns r creepy. Just don’t understand the reason for it. U no there is a lot of crazy people in the world and someone just might hurt him or her. Just sayin.”
