Otta-wha? Man angry at Canada mask mandates calls in bomb threat in Ohio | Ohio

This article is more than 2 years old

Otta-wha? Man angry at Canada mask mandates calls in bomb threat – in Ohio

This article is more than 2 years old

A 20-year suspect called in bomb threat so Canadian police would waste their time chasing it, but called a village in Ohio

A man who wanted to join the protests in Canada’s capital over mask mandates called in a bomb threat so police would waste their time chasing it, authorities said, but he called the wrong Ottawa — a village in Ohio.

The man, a 20-year-old from Akron, Ohio, called the Putnam county sheriff’s office twice Monday, said sheriff’s Capt Brad Brubaker.

The first time he made a bomb threat, and then in a second call he said he had been shot, Brubaker said. That’s when the man found out he was talking with someone in Ohio.

“He wasn’t paying attention and just called the first number he found,” Brubaker told The Lima News. “He said he was mad about mask mandates.”

The sheriff’s office said it would ask the county prosecutor to consider charges against the man.

The protests have caused gridlock in the Canadian capital since January, with scores of vehicles blocking streets in the downtown area.

On Thursday police in the capital said that there had been a “concerted effort” to flood the city’s 911 and non-emergency policing reporting line.

“This endangers lives and is completely unacceptable,” the force said, adding that it was a crime to unnecessarily call the two numbers. “We track calls and will charge anyone deliberately interfering with emergencies,” the police said.

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