A false gun threat has led to city precautions, Gearhart Police Chief Jeff Bowman said, including a Zoom-only City Council meeting.

Conversations from private Facebook groups administered by local residents led to reports of potential gun use at an upcoming council meeting.

The reports of threats were unfounded, Clatsop County Sheriff Matt Phillips said in an incident report. The sheriff determined the discussion had been distorted via word-of-mouth and social media.

The issue surfaced in the aftermath of the contentious May vote on a firehouse bond measure. After the bond measure failed, residents appeared at the City Council meeting on June 1 and threatened to recall the mayor and city councilors, who had endorsed the bond.

Paulina Cockrum resigned as mayor the next day, citing personal reasons.

On June 6, an anonymous social media post alarmed acting Mayor Kerry Smith enough to tell City Administrator Chad Sweet he was concerned about people carrying weapons to public meetings.

“In regard to the risk of violence, I was sent a screenshot of two handguns, a bottle of scotch, and a Bible with a caption that made me ill because of its content,” Smith said. “I considered it hate-mongering in tone, and because it came from a person who frequents social media, I felt it showed a real lack of responsibility in the individual, which in turn, made me think safety and security needed beefing up at City Hall. Threats to people in our community will elicit a timely response by the city.”

Smith asked for better security doors and a metal detector to prevent weapons from entering City Hall.

Sweet sent an email to city councilors and Smith asking to get all sources of the threats or perceived threats in the form of emails, texts or screenshots.

This message was transmitted by word-of-mouth to a member of The Pacific Way Group, who referred to a potential for violence at the next City Council meeting.

On June 8, Beth Cameron, an opponent of the firehouse bond, reported social media posts to the sheriff’s office after reading on Facebook that Sweet “was saying there would be guns at the next City Council meeting,” the sheriff said in his incident report.

Cameron told the sheriff she was concerned that Sweet was “unstable,” highlighting past troubles related to alcohol.

Jack Zimmerman, an administrator of The Pacific Way Group, also contacted the sheriff’s office about the matter.

The sheriff’s office determined that the discussion had been distorted. Instead of Sweet being proactive in ensuring security at meetings, messaging led to a perception Sweet was either going to bring a firearm to a meeting or invite others to bring them, the sheriff said in his incident report.

“Sweet was aware of the misinformation being spread and we discussed the email he sent,” Phillips said. “Mr. Sweet has no inclination whatsoever to bring firearms of any type to a meeting.”

Zimmerman, one of the leading opponents of the bond measure and a critic of Sweet, said his report to the sheriff’s office wasn’t motivated by politics.

“The question on my part — and I know on Beth Cameron’s part — was if there were in fact, people coming to City Council with guns, why was this not reported?” he asked. “One, to the county sheriff; two, to the residents of Gearhart; and then three, what were the actions that would be taken to protect the residents?”

The rumored threat came just days after the mass shooting at a school in Uvalde, Texas, Cameron said. “I was understandably concerned for the safety of every single person attending City Council meetings,” she said.

Chief Bowman wrote in his blog in early June that City Hall did receive an anonymous letter, she said.

“So what did I falsely report? … I reported because I would never have been able to live with myself if someone had been hurt, or killed, and I had known about that potential from social media rumors beforehand,” she said.

Along with the Zoom-only meeting on Wednesday, the City Council could consider additional measures regulating firearms on city property.

“Due to possible negative reactions by others from these social media posts and the members themselves, certain precautions should be taken,” Bowman said. “Everyone should be able to feel a sense of safety at a public meeting or gatherings. By making a few adjustments and setting forth some security protocols, citizens will have just that.”

‘It’s one thing to lie, distort and fabricate information on social media — disguised as freedom of speech — but to make an official law enforcement complaint against persons who oppose their cause is just plain wrong.’

— Police Chief Jeff Bowman