'Need a Haitian hunting license': Shocking threats made to Springfield officials revealed

In Springfield, Ohio, Mayor Rob Rue — a conservative Republican — has been pushing back against the baseless conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants have been kidnapping people's pets and eating them.

But despite the debunking from Rue, as well as Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Haitians in Springfield have feared for their safety. And city officials have been the target of bomb threats.

404 Media's Jason Koebler details some of those threats in an article published Wednesday.

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404 has received copies of e-mails received or sent by government officials in Springfield between September 8 and 12 — that is, days leading up to and after former President Donald Trump's September 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. During the debate, Trump promoted the conspiracy theory.

In a September 9 e-mail, Springfield city manager Bryan Heck warned employees about the false claim. And one of them responded, "We received a disturbing/threatening phone call. The call came in at 10:27 pm last nite. He left a message on our machine. It has been saved if anyone would like to come over and listen to it."

One of the threatening e-mails described by Koebler read, "Since it's obvious that you and the rest of the cowards on the city council are too afraid to handle this invasion citizens will apparently need to do so themselves. Purchase of Belgian Malinois and Cane Corsos should skyrocket along with protection training. If the dog goes in its yard and invaders are there, well, I guess lunch time it is."

City officials, according to Koebler, shared screenshots of threatening messages posted on Facebook.

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One of them read, "We need a Haitian hunting license!!" And another read, "Just imagine a world where instead of school shootings, they set their sights on these Haitian animals. The world would be a better and safer place."