Police send ‘emergency alert’ for Joker’s car roaming Gotham City

Missouri authorities accidentally issued an emergency alert for Batman villain the Joker this week, warning that the fictional killer’s purple and green car had been spotted in Gotham City.

“Emergency Alert: Gotham City MO purple/green 1978 Dodge 3700 GT UKIDME,” read the alert, which was sent out to Americans in the state of Missouri on Tuesday.

Many locals took to social media to express confusion, pointing out that the purple and green Dodge car listed was used by the Joker in the 1989 movie ‘Batman’, where Hollywood star Jack Nicholson played the iconic villain. The movie is set in the fictional Gotham City.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) soon reassured locals that the warning was an internal test that had been made public in error.

“This was meant to be a test message, THERE WAS NO ALERT,” MSHP General HQ tweeted.

However, some Missourians demanded accountability, with local KMBC news anchor Matt Flener calling it “a major error, especially at a time of heightened alert.”

It wasn’t the first time that a US emergency alert was issued in error. Last year, the Texas Department of Public Safety issued an amber alert for the fictional serial-killing doll ‘Chucky’. The alert warned that Chucky – a pint-sized serial killer from the 1988 horror movie ‘Child’s Play’ – was “wielding a huge kitchen knife” and had abducted his fictional son Glen.

In 2018, residents in Hawaii received an emergency alert claiming that a ballistic missile was closing in on the state. “Seek shelter immediately. This is not a drill,” read the warning, which sent locals into a panic.

Emergency broadcast systems have also been hacked in recent years, with one warning from 2013 claiming that the bodies of the dead had risen from their graves to attack the living.