Springfield City Hall, elementary school evacuated after bomb threat, city says
Springfield City Hall and a local elementary school were evacuated Thursday morning after bomb threats were sent to multiple facilities in the city, according to city officials.
Additionally, all Clark County buildings, including the common pleas court and juvenile court, will be closed to the public Thursday "out of an abundance of caution," the county announced in a 11:46 a.m. statement on Facebook.
Based on information from a state fire marshal, Fulton Elementary School students were evacuated from their building and transferred to Springfield High School Thursday morning. The district is currently dismissing students to their parents, according to a statement from Springfield City Schools. The district's other buildings are operating as normal.
City officials became aware of an emailed bomb threat sent to "multiple facilities throughout Springfield" at 8:24 a.m., a city spokesperson said in a statement posted to Facebook. City Hall was then evacuated as a precautionary measure, and an "immediate" law enforcement response began, according to the statement.
"Our primary concern is the safety and well-being of our employees and residents. We are working to address this situation as swiftly as possible," a city spokesperson said in the statement.
Residents should avoid the City Hall area and report any suspicious activity to the Springfield Police Division, the city spokesperson said in the statement.
"We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we work through this matter," the spokesperson said.
Thursday's bomb threat comes as Springfield has been thrust into the national spotlight after several prominent conservative figures, including former President Donald Trump, falsely claimed Haitian immigrants in the community were eating pets and wildlife.
The city did not mention the recent immigration controversy in its statement on the threat.
In a copy of the emailed threat obtained by USA Today, the misinformation from Trump is repeated as part of a lengthy diatribe that disparages Haitian people. The emailed threat also says a bomb in several buildings would detonate in hours.
"My hometown of Springfield is becoming a third world (expletive) because you allowed the federal government to dump these (expletive) here," the email stated. "We have Haitians eating our animals and then you lie and claim this is not happening when we see this happening. I’m here to send a message."
The threat identified Springfield City Hall, Springfield Driver Exam Station, Ohio License Bureau Southside, Springfield Academy-Excellence and Fulton Elementary School as locations where bombs would be detonated.
What's going on in Springfield?
Springfield, a city about 45 miles from Columbus, has seen a large influx of Haitian immigrants in recent years. As many as 20,000 Haitians may have come looking for work.
These Haitians are in the U.S. legally under a temporary protected status, a Department of Homeland Security designation for legal refugees who cannot return to their home countries due to unsafe or unstable conditions. Many of them moved to Springfield after being recruited by local companies for jobs that locals were not filling, The Enquirer reported.
Earlier this week, vice presidential nominee JD Vance made a post on X saying that these Haitian immigrants were overburdening the city's systems and some were eating pets and wildlife. From there, several other right-wing profiles like Elon Musk, Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump Jr. spread the claim that Haitians were eating pets.
Springfield in the spotlight: Are immigrants eating dogs as Trump says? What to know
The unfounded rumor managed to reach Trump, who referenced Springfield at Tuesday night's presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.
"They're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats, they're eating the pets of people that live there," he said.
Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck, through his office, released a statement saying there's no evidence of any cats or other pets being harmed or eaten by the Haitian immigrants, The Dispatch previously reported.
This story is ongoing and will be updated as it develops.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Springfield City Hall, elementary school evacuated after bomb threat
