YPSILANTI (WWJ) - The sudden evacuation of an Ypsilanti hotel disrupted Friday's Motor City Furry Convention as participants and staff were forced outside over an alleged threat.
An attendee who asked to be identified as "Cassidy The Civet" told WWJ's Ryan Wrecker they were ushered out of the Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest, off Huron Street, just as the event was about to begin.
Sharing a video on her Twitter page, Cassidy wrote: "Just got to #mcfc2023, and literally during the middle of opening ceremonies they received an emailed threat and we have to evacuate the hotel. Ugh."
Speaking to the crowd, a man who identified himself as chairperson for the convention said organizers received an email from an unidentified person who "actually did threaten us with a bomb."
The chairperson added: "What's going on right now is we've got the police here to sweep the hotel. There's gonna go and investigate — probably your rooms, I'm sorry — but they are gonna look through the hotel and make sure we are safe."
Cassidy, who traveled to Michigan from Vancouver for the event, said the police showed up as everyone was evacuating. Eventually, officers ushered everyone away from the hotel onto a nearby golf course.
"There wasn't really a large panic because in some ways the furry fandom is unfortunately getting used to this. It's kind of becoming part of daily life to some degree, I think where we all understand that someone can just call something in," Cassidy said.
"And this is actually the third time at a convention this month that there's been a police presence."
No one has been hurt, and there have been no reports of any explosive devices found.
It's not clear when people may be let back into the venue.
Videos from outside the hotel showed many people in various states of animal costume standing and sitting around, waiting for updates. Cassidy said only about a quarter of attendees typically dress up for these events.
While Cassidy waited it out with some friends at a McDonald's across from the hotel, she told Wrecker she figures the threat is just an unfunny prank.
"It sucks that these people are able to abuse the police resources and taxpayer dollars, just for what? Just for some, like, cheap internet haha funny moments?"
WWJ Newsradio 950 has calls into the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office and to the hotel for information, but was not immediately able to reach anyone.
According the event's website, the Motor City Furry Convention is Michigan's "18+ anthropomorphic appreciation convention, for furries and furry fans alike." Anthropomorphism specifically refers to giving human characteristics to animals, as stated by Phys.org.
The MCFC is scheduled through the weekend from March 24 to March 26.
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