Just before 8 a.m. Monday morning, millions of people in the New York City area received blaring alerts on their phones with the message: "WANTED: Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28-yr-old male. See media for pic. Call 9-1-1 if seen."
The notifications came from the Wireless Emergency Alert system, which up until Monday had been mainly used for weather advisories and Amber Alerts. But coinciding with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's release of Rahami's name and photograph, the notification system "deployed … an electronic wanted poster" for what The New York Times says is "believed to be the first time."
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