Another bomb threat in Springfield, Ohio, forced the closure of two hospitals Saturday morning as the small city of about 60,000 continues to endure increased national attention and threats over the influx of an estimated 20,000 Haitian residents.
The bomb threats against Kettering Health Springfield and Mercy Health Springfield Regional Medical Center came after attacks on two elementary schools and a government building on Friday forced evacuations and closures.
MercyHealth was placed on lockdown shortly after 6 a.m. and local authorities worked with the hospital's on-site security team to conduct a thorough search of the facility, a hospital spokesman said. News Center 7It added that the threat was deemed not credible.
“The safety protocols we have in place for these types of events allow us to work quickly with local law enforcement to thoroughly investigate the threat and ensure the safety of our patients and staff,” Kettering Health said in a statement.
The lockdown was then lifted.
A bomb threat on Friday forced the evacuation of two Springfield elementary schools for a second consecutive day and put one middle school on lockdown before the start of the day.
Several city commissioners and one city employee also received bomb threats via email, and a second email threatened several more locations, including Springfield City Hall, Cliff Park High School, Perrin Woods Elementary School, Roosevelt Middle School, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Southside Ohio License Office.
The source 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 difficult for everyone in our community.” Springfield police said in a statement to the Guardian..
“We remain committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of each and every individual,” police added.
Springfield drew even more attention this week after former President Donald Trump said during Tuesday's presidential debate that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were kidnapping and eating pets.
“In Springfield, they're eating dogs. They're eating cats. They're eating the pets of the people who live there,” the Republican presidential candidate claimed.
Pressed by ABC News debate moderator David Muir about the denials from local authorities, Mr Trump claimed: “People on TV are saying that people who went there ate their dogs.”
Republicans point to photos and reports of wild ducks and geese being taken by migrants, as well as an incident last month in Canton, Ohio – more than 100 miles from Springfield – in which an American woman was arrested for eating a cat, a case that had no ties to the Haitian community.
Springfield Mayor Brian Heck denied the rumors, saying he has “no credible reports of specific allegations that pets have been harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”
The woman who wrote the original Facebook post alleging that Haitian immigrants were stealing and eating local pets now says she deeply regrets it and never intended to cause harm to the Haitian community.
“It just suddenly exploded into something that I never intended to happen,” Erica Lee told NBC News on Friday night.
Lee had recently posted on Facebook about a missing cat that neighbors believed had been slaughtered and eaten by one of the city's Haitian residents, but at the time had no direct knowledge of any such incidents involving Caribbean immigrants.
“My heart goes out to the Haitian community,” Lee told NBC.
“If I were a Haitian person, I would be scared too. I would be scared that someone would come after me because they think I'm hurting something they love. Again, that's not what I was trying to do.”
