Springfield City Hall Bomb Threat Tied Pet-Eating Conspiracy Theories

A bomb threat issued across “multiple facilities” in Springfield, Ohio, Thursday morning that prompted the evacuation of city hall spewed hateful language against immigrants and Hatians, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue tells TIME.

Springfield City Hall reopened Friday after being shut down all Thursday, along with the utility billing and income tax and revenue offices, according to the city’s Facebook page. 

“Springfield is a community that needs help,” Rue told the Washington Post. The threats impacting the city come amid viral, false rumors circulating online, claiming that Haitian immigrants in the city are eating people’s pets—a lie that former President Donald Trump reiterated during Tuesday night’s presidential debate.  

On Thursday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez said that right-wing rhetoric attacking immigrants is part of a larger pattern Republicans use that can lead to material consequences against marginalized communities.

She referenced a 2022 telephonic bomb threat against a Boston hospital that launched a healthcare program focused on transgender and gender-diverse youth as evidence.

“There is a pattern of bomb threats, of mass shootings and of other violent targeting of these communities, and so when J.D. Vance or when Donald Trump intentionally distribute incredibly malicious and disgusting claims like about eating pets, etc, they are engaged in something that is more than just a harmful statement,” Ocasio Cortez told reporters on the steps of the Capitol Thursday when asked about the bomb threat.

Anywhere from around 15,000 to 20,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of Springfield, many with temporary protective status, due to ongoing conflict in the Caribbean country. Advocacy organizations, such as the Haitian Bridge Alliance, attacked the remarks made by Republican politicians and urged J.D. Vance, who represents Ohio and also spread claims about eating pets, to retract his statements. 

Regional and local law enforcement immediately responded to the threat after receiving a threat via email around 8:24 a.m.Thursday. 

The email was sent to various media outlets and agencies. Local law enforcement are working with the FBI to further investigate the matter, Springfield Police Chief Allison Elliott said during a Thursday afternoon press conference.