Incorrect Amber Alert sent out to Tacoma residents; police say they don't know why

TACOMA – The police said they don’t know how a false Amber Alert was sent out in Tacoma on Monday night.

The alert was sent out to Tacoma residents at almost the same time as an alert was being sent around the rest of the state about two little girls in Pasco who were in a car that had been stolen.

The timing caused widespread confusion. Multiple viewers contacted Q13 to ask if there were, indeed, two alerts, after the message of a missing 5-month-old and her mother broke into their regular television programs.

The alert that was actually sent out in Tacoma appeared to be a repeat of a legitimate September Amber Alert. Tacoma police spokesperson Dan Davis said nobody knows yet how the incorrect alert was sent out.

The Amber Alert in Pasco, however, had a happy ending – a man received the alert on his phone just as he was pulling in next to the stolen car.