Man arrested for threat against Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - The Wichita Police Department on Friday evening announced that officers arrested 59-year-old Meredith Dowty, of Wichita for making a threat against Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple.

Police arrested Dowty on a charge of criminal threat after officers were alerted to threatening statements directed toward Whipple.

Police said the investigation leading to Dowty’s arrest began immediately after they learned about the threatening statements made against the mayor. That investigation is ongoing.

Friday, Eyewitness News spoke with Whipple about the nature of the threat.

“From my understanding, we have someone who’s upset with me over what I think is policies related to stopping the spread of COVID, who reached out to someone else looking for my address with the intent to do harm,” he said.

He said he’s received threats before, but this one stuck out.

“This one seemed more thought out, more planned,” Whipple said.

Whipple said from what he gathered in text messages read to him, (Dowty) was interested in possibly kidnapping him and causing harm with a knife.

“Again, these (messages) were read to me, luckily, by our officers who were on top of it,” Whipple said.