SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – Bomb threats forced evacuations and lockdowns Friday public schools and town halls for the second day in a row, as the city continues to deal with sudden national attention over false claims about the Haitian population.
Students at Perrin Woods and Snowhill Elementary Schools in Springfield were “evacuated from their building to an alternate district location,” school spokeswoman Jenna Leinasars said.
Leinasars added that Roosevelt Middle School was “on lockdown prior to the start of the school day” due to information received from the Springfield Police Department.
In addition to the evacuation of schools, several city commissioners and a municipal employee were targeted in the email bomb threat, city spokeswoman Karen Graves said.
Graves added that the second email threatened multiple locations, including Springfield City Hall, Cliff Park High School, Perrin Woods Elementary School, Roosevelt Middle School, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Ohio License Bureau Southside.
“As a precautionary measure, all affected buildings have been evacuated. Authorities have conducted a thorough search with the support of explosive detection dogs and have cleared the objects on the threat list,” Graves said in a statement.
Local police and FBI agents in Dayton are “working to determine the origin of these email threats,” a city official said.
The city, just west of Columbus, has been at the center of a national political storm involving false rumors that Haitian immigrants are stealing and eating pets. City officials and police said there was no credible information to support the outlandish claims.
There is former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance made these false claims As part of a broader effort to use Springfield as an example of what he says are the harmful consequences of immigration.
Vance also said there has been a “massive increase in infectious diseases” in Springfield, but Clark County Unified Health District Commissioner Chris Cook said Friday that was not certain.
“Overall, we haven’t seen a significant increase in all reportable infectious diseases,” he said. The lowest rate in Clark County since 2016.
A representative for Vance could not immediately be reached for comment.
Alicia Victoria Lozano reported from Springfield, Ohio, and David K. Lee reported from New York.
This is an evolving story. Please check for updates.
Matthew Mata and Alec Hernandez contributed.