Schools canceled in Springfield, Ohio over threats tied to false claims of eating pets

Wittenberg University and Clark State College in Springfield, Ohio, canceled all sporting events and other activities on Sunday and said classes will be remote this week and the Springfield City School District closed one middle school and evacuated two elementary schools Friday, all for the same reason -- threats they've received tied to accusations that people in the area are eating pets.

To get you up to speed: GOP vice presidential hopeful JD Vance went viral with a tweet claiming Haitian immigrants in the area are eating people's cats, and then running mate Donald Trump doubled down on the claim during the presidential debate last week.

"They're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats," Trump said. "They're eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what's happening in our country, and it's a shame."

Police and city officials have said repeatedly the claim is unfounded, with Ohio 's GOP Gov. Mike DeWine saying on Sunday the claims are "a piece of garbage."

City Hall also had to be evacuated Friday because of a threat of violence and DeWine pledged $2.5 million to help the community with health care and public safety. He said Ohio will “not walk away” from the influx of 20,000 migrants escaping Haiti amid a humanitarian crisis.

Vance, however, defended his words, arguing in a CNN interview this weekend that "if I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people then that's what I'm going to do,” he said.

As for the schools, one said they they got a shooting threat and the other a bomb threat.

"University administrators recognize that the city of Springfield has experienced an increase of threats to local government, businesses, and schools in the past week," Wittenberg officials posted to the school's website Sunday. "We take this threat seriously and will provide updates to the campus as we learn more about the situation."