On the weekend, explosions rocked areas of New York City and New Jersey. Saturday morning, a pipe bomb in a trash can in Seaside, N.J. exploded. The bomb had been placed along the route of a U.S. Marine charity race. The race started late and no one was around or injured at the time of the explosion.
Saturday night, a pressure cooker bomb exploded in the Chelsea area of Manhattan. Twenty-nine people were injured in the blast, 24 of whom required hospitalization. In addition to the actual explosions, more explosive devices were found in New York and New Jersey that had not detonated.
Police in New York were able to collect DNA and fingerprint evidence from the Chelsea crime scene and on Monday morning they announced they had a suspect. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was sought in connection with the explosions.
Just before 8 a.m. Monday, New York City activated its wireless emergency alert system(WEA). Alerts are usually only sent out in the form of an Amber Alert when a child is missing or to inform people about extreme weather conditions. These alerts can also be used in cases of terrorist attacks or when the president wants to make an important announcement.
Eric Phillips, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s press secretary, said this was the first time the system has been used to seek a wanted suspect.
The user’s phone makes a noise and then a message, described as like a text message but different, was sent out. In this case it read, “WANTED: Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28-year-old male. See media for pic. Call 9-1-1 if seen.”
The message went out to all cellphones in the city regardless of whether they had NYC area codes.
The WEA system was initiated in 2012 and is similar to the alerts broadcast on television through the Emergency Broadcast System. But as Mashable points out, about 80 percent of Americans have smartphones that are usually never very far away. It is a more effective way to notify more people.
All levels of government have access to the system but can only use them in extreme emergencies. Which agencies are granted access to WEA is initially decided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and participation in the system is voluntary for wireless carriers. But once a carrier becomes part of the WEA, it has not control over what alerts go out and when. Unless there are technical problems, alerts from all wireless companies go out at the same time. If a lot of cellphone users are present in a confined space, it can get quite noisy.
About three hours after the alerts went out, a bar owner in Linden, New Jersey arrived at his place of business. He noticed a man sleeping in the building’s enclosed vestibule and the man bore a resemblance to the wanted Rahami. The bar owner had seen a picture of Rahami issued by the FBI. He called police and a shootout took place upon their arrival. Two police officers as well as Rahami were injured. The 28-year-old was taken into custody and faces several bombing-related charges.
James O’Neill, New York City’s police commissioner, praised the WEA system. He said it is helpful to police and the FBI because of the number of people who become involved and can help keep the city safe. O’Neill described the system as “the future.”
