Alert about missing man was 'unintentionally' sent to larger audience, Glendale official says

GLENDALE, Calif. (KABC) -- An alert about a missing man that was sent to phones across Southern California was unintentionally sent to more people than intended, Glendale officials confirmed Tuesday.

The Public Safety Alert was sent Monday evening. It stated that a man, Mannasseh Chibuzor Nwaigwe, 81, had been missing since that morning.

The alert provided no other information, including a location or general area about where he was last seen.

It's unclear exactly how many people received the alert, but it was "unintentionally sent to a larger audience," Kevork Kurdoghlian, communications manager for the Glendale Police Department, said in a statement.

It was only meant to be distributed to Glendale residents, he added.

Kurdoghlian also said that the man was eventually found. Additional information was not available.

The alert was received by residents in multiple Southland counties. In a statement, L.A. County's Office of Emergency Management said:

"The County did not send the wireless emergency alert. This message was sent by the city of Glendale who is designated by FEMA as an 'alerting authority.'"

Monrovia resident Erin Lewin said she received the alert - and while she generally finds the alerts to be helpful and informative, she was reminded of the accidental evacuation warning she got during the fires.

"Then we received that 'Never mind, that was an accident.' And that scares you. And that can be pretty intimidating in a moment. But it does a little bit every now and then make you think, 'Well, am I getting this for real? Is this true? Is this an accident? Is this somewhere else?'" Lewin said.