AUBURN, Maine — An Auburn woman told the Sun Journal she was threatened by a person in a clown costume Wednesday night and scared him off with her legally carried handgun.

The 49-year-old woman, who asked not to be identified, reported the incident to the police.

She told the Sun Journal she was sitting on her porch around 5:30 p.m. when a black SUV stopped outside her house and the rear window rolled down, revealing a person in a clown Halloween costume, complete with red afro wig, red nose and painted-on smile.

She said she laughed at first saying “I’m not afraid of clowns,” until the clown made a gun shape with his fingers and said “bang.”

“I picked up my 9 mm — I didn’t point it at him directly,” the woman told the Sun Journal, “and said, ‘Back at ya, clown.’”

The SUV drove off, but the woman said she felt unsettled after.

Read the story at sunjournal.com.