An incident last week involving a threat to the Vero Beach offices of nonprofit Thrive could complicate the agency’s plans to open a round-the-clock addiction intake center and transient addict housing facility in a residential neighborhood in Vero Beach.

On Thursday, May 7, just before 6 p.m., an employee of Thrive (formerly known as the Substance Awareness Center) reported receiving a phone call from a local 772 number threatening to bring an AK-style rifle to the addiction counseling headquarters on 5th Avenue between Indian River Boulevard and Royal Palm Boulevard, north of Miracle Mile, and shoot up the place. There is no recording of the call.

Police quickly identified a suspect based on the phone number, but the phone’s owner, 27-year-old Michael Sean O’Brien, had no obvious connection with Thrive. He wasn’t a client, employee, former employee or related to an employee in Thrive’s database.

After not finding the suspect at home, police contacted a woman on record as living at the same address. The woman, who turned out to be the suspect’s fiancée, informed detectives she worked near the Thrive office.

“Sometime during the week, while leaving work, she was approached by an unknown, white male, believed to be in his sixties riding a bicycle,” according to the police report. The woman told police, “The male made several inappropriate comments toward her and continued attempting to verbally engage her despite her repeatedly expressing that she wanted to be left alone.”

She had relayed an account of this to O’Brien but said she did not know about any phone call to Thrive.

Detectives went to O’Brien’s workplace, Mullinax Ford, where he is a mechanic, to interview him, and he fully cooperated after being read his rights, according to court records.

O’Brien, who drives his fiancée back and forth to work and knows the Thrive office, described the counseling center to police as “a location frequented by drug users.” He admitted making threatening comments about coming there to “fight a crackhead,” but did not specifically recall threatening to shoot up the office.

According to police reports, O’Brien admitted referring to an AK-47 but said he has never owned a firearm, due in part to being previously admitted to a mental healthcare facility under Florida’s Baker Act. He said he never intended to harm anyone and apologized repeatedly.

O’Brien was arrested on Friday afternoon, charged with making a false report concerning the use of firearms in a violent manner, a second-degree felony, and released on $5,000 bail on Saturday.

O’Brien has no priors in Indian River County, but he was arrested in Martin County in November 2024 for making written threats by text message to kill or do bodily harm. That second-degree felony charge was dropped by the State Attorney’s Office a month later.

Thrive is currently negotiating a three-year, rent-free deal to lease two buildings at 620 and 650 10th Street from Indian River County Hospital District. The site, which was purchased by the Hospital District in December 2024 for a “sober home” project, is in a residential neighborhood between 6th Avenue and U.S. 1, south of 12th Street.

Using funds from a state opioid settlement, John’s Island philanthropists and a federal pass-through grant applied for by the Hospital District, Thrive plans to open a 24-hour clearinghouse where addicts in crisis can show up or be dropped off by law enforcement and matched with appropriate detox and treatment programs and facilities. Also onsite would be what Thrive calls “respite housing” for drug addicts and alcoholics needing a place to live temporarily.

Thrive has already advertised for a development director plus additional staff for the expansion. It hopes to purchase the property from the Hospital District within five years, tapping donors and government programs for the funds.

Still to be ironed out are concerns regarding the property’s zoning, which prohibits the delivery of healthcare related services on the premises. Depending upon what Thrive ends up doing, that could require a special exception for a permitted use from Indian River County Planning and Zoning or the Board of County Commissioners.

The Hospital District paid approximately $4 million for the property and could still sell the land and buildings outright now and turn a profit for taxpayers. It has been approached by multiple interested parties, and the property was recently appraised at between $4.7 million and $5.2 million, including more than $200,000 in improvements made by the district.

Last week’s incident raised questions about the possible risk of bringing a hub for drug addicts into a residential neighborhood.

Terms of the deal with Thrive are expected to be discussed next week at Hospital District meetings on Wednesday and Thursday.

“Thrive delivers valuable services to the community, but since we learned that the zoning was going to be a problem for us, I’ve been apprehensive about moving forward at this location because I’ve been feeling as though we are settling for Plan B rather than Plan A,” Hospital District Trustee Paul Westcott said on Monday.

“Specifically, I think we’re going to be forced to limit our services because of the zoning constraints. Additionally, this recent event raises the topic of safety and security for the community. Families around those who need the services are likely in some form of crisis. The security of the residents, the care providers and the community cannot take a backseat to our desire to provide the necessary services.”

Westcott, who would rather sell the property outright, said he supports what Thrive wants to do, but not at the 10th Street location.