Two medical centers in Springfield, Ohio were forced to go on lockdown Saturday due to bomb threats.
The Springfield Police Division say they were alerted to bomb threats against Kettering Health Springfield and Mercy Health’s Springfield Regional Medical Center on Saturday. They notified the hospitals’ security teams, who put the facilities under temporary lockdown, according to Fox 8.
Police and the hospitals’ security teams searched the premises but found nothing suspicious and both facilities are now open.
Schools, businesses and municipal buildings were also forced to close on Thursday and Friday due to similar threats.
The city of Springfield has been in the national headlines since last week when Republican vice-presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance amplified an anti-migrant claim alleging that Haitians immigrants in the city were killing and eating residents’ pets.
Trump further elevated the claim by repeating it during Tuesday night’s debate with Vice-President Kamala Harris.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” Trump said during the debate to an estimated audience of 67.1 million people. “They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame. Eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
When moderator David Muir noted that there are no credible reports of such claims, Trump doubled down.
“I’ve seen people on television,” he said. “The people on television claimed, ‘My dog was taken and used for food.’”
Local police and city officials have said they had no reports of any such incidents.
Also, the woman whose Facebook post is at the center of the conspiracy theory has since come out to say it is a rumor.
At a press conference at his golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., this week, Trump dismissed the idea that his comments have led to the bomb threats to targeting businesses and schools in Springfield.
“No, no, the real threat is what’s happening at our border,” he said. “Because you have thousands of people being killed by illegal migrants coming in — and also dying.” There is no evidence to show that thousands of people are being killed by migrants that cross the border illegally.
Furthermore, Haitian migrants in Springfield are in the country legally under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program.
Following Saturday’s threats police released a statement, “We recognize that the past few days have been particularly challenging for everyone in our community. Please know that we remain fully committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of each and every person. We take any and all threats to our community’s safety very seriously and continue to work diligently to address them.”
