Downtown Charlevoix reopened following bomb threat

CHARLEVOIX — At least a block in Charlevoix's downtown business district was evacuated on Thursday afternoon following a bomb threat.

Charlevoix Police Chief Gerard Doan said the call came in at 2:32 p.m. The call said there were bombs located at the bridge and a sniper was in the area.

“The bridge was immediately shut down,” Doan said. “We checked the bridge immediately, closed down the traffic, found nothing suspicious.”

Doan said the incident is similar to a bomb threat that closed downtown Harbor Springs in January 2021. In that instance, a caller was using live stream video of the downtown area to make the threat. Doan said they quickly moved to cover up similar camera feeds.

More: Harbor Springs bomb threat was false alarm

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“I was able to contact one of the business owners and get up on top of the view and took towels right away and covered up the cameras within 10 minutes,” Doan said.

Doan said the caller was still on the line with central dispatch at that time, and after the cameras were covered they said it was a hoax.

“We have a bomb dog coming in right now (to make sure) … but after that everything’s going to be opened back up again,” Doan said.

As in the Harbor Springs incident, Doan said “chances are this is going to come in overseas.” The Harbor Springs threat was made from Great Britain.

More: Potential suspect identified in Harbor Springs bomb threat

A Charlevoix Courier reporter at the corner of Park Avenue and Bridge Street said at least a block of buildings on Bridge Street had been evacuated and closed, as of 3:30 p.m.

As of 4:50 p.m., the bridge had been reopened for both vehicle and boat traffic.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Downtown Charlevoix reopened following bomb threat