A local man suspected of making violent threats to employees of the city’s medical clinic was taken into police custody after he showed up at The Timbers of Cass County nursing center Thursday morning, according a release from the Dowagiac Police Department.

According to police, at around 9 a.m. a medical assistant at the Borgess Lee Medical Group, located across the street from the hospital on Main Street, received a call from a patient who was upset with the clinic. During the phone call, the patient made threats to shoot and kill specific  clinic employees, telling the assistant that he would be on the way to the clinic to carry out the threats.

Officers immediately responded to the clinic and made contact with staff, placing the building on lockdown with officers posted at the building; Borgess-Lee Memorial Hospital was also placed on lockdown with officers posted there as security due to its proximity to the clinic.

While officers were securing these locations other officers attempted to locate the suspect by checking various locations.

Officers were told by clinic staff that during the phone call the suspect said he was going to visit a relative at The Timbers of Cass County, located on Colby St. in Dowagiac, before going to the clinic to shoot the subjects there.

Officers located the suspect, a 53-year-old Dowagiac resident, at The Timbers, where he was taken into custody without incident.

Officers searched the suspect as well as his vehicle and did not locate any weapons. Officers are continuing to investigate this incident to determine if the suspect has weapons or access to them.

Dowagiac police arrested the suspect on charges of making a terrorist threat and threatening telephone communication. The suspect was lodged at the Cass County Jail pending authorization of charges through the Cass County Prosecutor’s Office.

The suspect’s name is being withheld pending arraignment in Cass County District Court Friday afternoon.

The Dowagiac Police Department was assisted during this incident by the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Pokagon Tribal Police Department, Silver Creek Township Police Department, Michigan State Police and members of the Cass County Drug Enforcement Team.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Dowagiac Police Department at (269) 782-9743 or the Cass County Tip Line at (800) 462-9328.