Update 9:54 Friday, October 7:  Thanks to investigative work by Detective Mark Lang and support from the Missoula community, Missoula Police say they have identified and talked with a 15-year-old male who has claimed responsibility for a Facebook "Klown" threat to kidnap and kill Missoula school students. Charges are under consideration. The teenager says the post was a hoax.

Original Story: Police are following a lead they hope may help them find the social media poster known as “Zootown Klown,” which recently threatened to kidnap and kill Missoula school students on Friday. Missoula Police Public Information officer Travis Welsh explains.

"There has been another post under a different identity that is claiming the post with threats towards high school students here in Missoula has been a prank," said Welsh. "It was a hoax. Of course we are not taking anything for granted and we consider this a lead that we are now trying to follow up on. We are still looking for anything that might direct us toward the person responsible for the original post."

The new post was by someone called “Bobby Zootown” and was quickly deleted from facebook after it appeared. Welsh says the police haven’t determined whether or not there is a credible threat.

"We are still asking people, just like we do generally, to be aware of your surroundings and not necessarily overreact, but just be aware there are people out there who enjoy causing fear and panic," Welsh said. "Whether this is a case of that is yet to be seen. Our overall goal is to make sure that our high schools are safe on Friday."

Welsh says police are working with the social media company Facebook to help track down the individual or individuals responsible for the threats.

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