More bomb threats rock Springfield, Ohio, after Trump made false claims about Haitians | Ohio

Two hospitals in Springfield, Ohio, were sealed off after bomb threats, police said Saturday. It is the fourth such case in just a few days and appears to be linked to false claims circulating on the far right that Haitian immigrants eat domestic and wild animals.

Saturday's threats came despite the woman who started the rumors admitting to NBC News that they were unfounded and publicly apologizing.

Kettering Health Springfield was one of the medical facilities affected. Officials later said they found nothing suspicious during a search. Another hospital, Mercy Health's Springfield Regional Medical Center, received a similar threat.

A Mercy Health spokesman said hospital operations continued and thanked Springfield police and hospital staff “for their prompt, efficient and caring response.”

Saturday's bomb threats came after intruders broke into government buildings on Thursday, forcing them to close and leading to the evacuation of local schools.

“We recognize that the last few days have been particularly challenging for everyone in our community,” Springfield police said in a statement. Police added, “We remain firmly committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of each and every individual.”

On Friday, Springfield resident Erika Lee apologized for rumors that Haitian immigrants eat pets, which were sparked by a Facebook post in which she claimed that a neighbor's daughter's friend lost her cat – and later found the animal hanging outside a Haitian family's home.

Lee now says she had no first-hand knowledge of the claim. The neighbor referenced in the post, Kimberly Newton, admitted she also heard the story from an acquaintance and not her daughter.

Lee said she was deeply regretful and stressed it was never her intention to target the Haitian community.

“It just exploded into something I hadn’t intended,” Lee NBC News said on Friday.

Local authorities in Springfield had already debunked the lies even before Donald Trump made the claim that Haitian immigrants eat pets during Tuesday's debate with Kamala Harris. Lee told the news outlet she never imagined her social media post would become fodder for conspiracy theories and hatred against the Haitian community in Springfield.

“I'm not racist,” Lee said, adding that her daughter is half black and she herself is biracial and a member of the LGBTQ+ community. “Everyone seems to portray it that way – and that was not my intention.”

The city of Springfield believes the rumors could also be linked to a case in Canton, Ohio, where an American with no known connection to Haiti was arrested in August for allegedly trampling a cat to death and eating the animal.

Separately, an explanation was given for a photo circulating online of a man carrying two geese in Columbus, Ohio. However, that photo also contributed to now-disproven rumors of animal consumption in nearby Springfield.

The Ohio Department of Wildlife told TMZ that the man picked up the two geese that had been hit by a car. The agency also reported that there was no evidence that the man was Haitian or an immigrant, or that he intended to eat the geese.

In 2017, about 15,000 Haitian immigrants flocked to Springfield, a city of 60,000, to work in local fruit and vegetable packing and processing factories. They were in high demand at Dole Fresh Vegetables in Springfield and at auto plants whose owners were struggling with labor shortages in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.