Police say man threatened mayor over masks

Mayor Brandon Whipple of Wichita, Kan., said he often gets “goofy” threats, such as the time someone said they wanted to attack him with a Goodyear blimp.

But those threats took a serious turn Friday after someone reported to police that they had received text messages threatening to kidnap and kill Whipple, a Democrat. Although the messages weren’t sent directly to Whipple, he said a detective read them to him.

The messages contained a “very descriptive plan of execution,” including locating the mayor, slitting his throat, hanging him and then turning him into fertilizer, Whipple said Saturday.

Whipple said the man sent the messages to a third party, who later reported the messages to police. The messages described the mayor using a code name, asked for his address and also mentioned opposition to masks and coronavirus mitigation policies.

The mayor pushed in July to pass a mask mandate in Wichita.

“This isn’t someone who is just kind of angry,” Whipple said. “This sounded like it was thought out in the text messages that were read to me.”

On Friday, the Wichita Police Department said in a news release that Meredith Dowty, 59, was arrested on a charge of criminal threat in connection with threatening statements directed at Whipple.

The Wichita Eagle reported that Dowty is a retired Wichita city firefighter who was once honored by the City Council for helping save the life of a police officer who had been shot.