Another bomb threat in Springfield, Ohio, forced two hospitals into lockdown Saturday morning as the small city of about 60,000 continues to endure heightened national attention and threats over the influx of an estimated 20,000 Haitian residents.
The bomb threats made to Kettering Health Springfield and Mercy Health-Springfield Regional Medical Center came after two elementary schools and government buildings were targeted on Friday, forcing evacuation and closure.
Mercy Health went into lockdown shortly after 6 a.m. while local authorities conducted a thorough search of the facility, in conjunction with the hospital’s onsite security team, a hospital spokesperson told News Center 7, adding that the threat was determined to be not credible.
“The safety protocols we have in place for these instances allow us to work quickly with local law enforcement to investigate threats thoroughly and ensure the safety of our patients and staff,” Kettering Health said in a statement.
The lockdowns have since been lifted.
Bomb threats on Friday forced two Springfield elementary schools to evacuate for a second consecutive day and a middle school to shutter prior to the start of the school day.
Several city commissioners and a municipal employee also received bomb threats via email, with a second email threatening additional locations, including Springfield City Hall, Cliff Park High School, Perrin Woods Elementary School, Roosevelt Middle School and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Ohio License Bureau Southside.
The origin of these emails is under investigation by local police and FBI agents based in Dayton.
“We recognize that the past few days have been particularly challenging for everyone in our community,” Springfield police said in a statement to The Guardian.
Police added “we remain fully committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of each and every person.”
The spotlight on Springfield was amplified this week after former President Donald Trump declared during Tuesday’s presidential debate that Haitian migrants in Springfield had been abducting and eating pets.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” the Republican presidential nominee claimed.
When pressed by ABC News’ debate moderator David Muir about denials from local officials, Trump claimed, “the people on television say their dog was eaten by the people that went there.”
Republicans have pointed to photos and reports of wild ducks or geese allegedly being taken by migrants and to an incident last month in which an American woman was arrested for eating a cat in Canton, Ohio — more than 100 miles from Springfield — and has no connection to the Haitian community,
Knocking down the rumors, Springfield city manager Bryan Heck said there were “no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”
The woman who authored the initial Facebook post claiming Haitian immigrants were stealing and eating local pets now says she’s deeply regretful and never intended to cause harm to the Haitian community.
“It just exploded into something I didn’t mean to happen,” Erika Lee told NBC News Friday night.
Lee had no firsthand knowledge of any such incidents involving the Caribbean immigrants when she posted on Facebook recently about a missing cat that her neighbor reportedly believed was butchered and eaten by one of the city’s Haitian residents.
“I feel for the Haitian community,” Lee told NBC.
“If I was in the Haitians’ position, I’d be terrified, too, worried that somebody’s going to come after me because they think I’m hurting something that they love and that, again, that’s not what I was trying to do.”
