DETROIT, Mich. (WXYZ) — Sunday morning service at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church was interrupted after someone called in a bomb threat.
Detroit Police didn’t find a bomb inside but the whole thing gave churchgoers quite the scare.
The scare comes as the church congregation is mourning the loss of their longtime pastor, Reverend Dr. Charles G. Adams.
Dr. Adams died on Wednesday after a bout with Pneumonia. His sister, Edith Clifton, was inside the church on Sunday.
“Just puzzled at why Hartford would be chosen as anybody’s bomb threat,” said Clifton.
The threat was called in toward the end of the church’s 7:30am service, everyone who was inside was evacuated.
“The fire department did a thorough search and they cleared out any doubt that there was a bomb,” said Clifton.
“The police department described it as a non-credible threat.” Once police said it was okay, churchgoers were able to finish their service.
Clifton says she doesn’t understand who would want to scare the congregation in this way.
“It could be as innocent as some young people just playing a prank,” she said. “Or it could be more serious as somebody really wanting to hurt the community in some way but we just don’t know.”
Despite this situation, the main thing Clifton wants people to know is the church cares about the community and she knows the community cares the church.“
Hartford has always been very invested in the community and this is something that Dr. Adams felt very strongly about, economic development of the community around the church,” Clifton added.
Dr. Adams memorial services will take place on December 14th and the 15th at Hartford Memorial.
Clifton says there is a strong possibility church security will be beefed up for those services in light of what happened on Sunday.
