CORSICANA, TX — Late Friday afternoon, leaders In Corsicana and Navarro County got word of what they determined to be a credible threat against government buildings. So city and county leaders shut down city hall and the Navarro County Courthouse to prepare for the worst.
Corsicana and Navarro County called it a weekend early after the sheriff and police chief decided the threat had a real chance of becoming reality.
No one would say exactly where the threat came from, but they pointed out it fell on the 27th anniversary of the 1993 death of Craig Thomas at the hands of Corsicana Police after a traffic stop.
People in Corsicana say that incident divided the town in ways that hadn't happened in generations, as extremist groups traveled to stoke the flames of a community in crisis.
This time, city leaders say they acted quickly and decisively with a show of force around city hall and the courthouse, rarely seen even in these days.
First, a long line of state Troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety took positions on a street behind city hall. Later, seven vans filled with Texas National Guard soldiers took their place in a bank parking lot across the street.
Some Corsicana police vehicles left the government center, setting up across the street from important city landmarks.
Although dozens of people cruised by, cell phone in hand, describing the strange sight to people on the other line, the threat never revealed itself.
By 8 p.m., the threat seemed to have visibly died down.
