Brace yourself, because the following story is the kind of doubly tragic situation that proves that when it rains it really does pour: The Amber Alert that just went off about a kidnapping created the distraction needed to allow for a second, separate kidnapping.
What an unfortunate situation.
Earlier today, eight-year-old Kerri Vanderson was tragically taken from a playground in Columbus, Ohio. Her parents quickly alerted the police, who soon dispersed from the abduction site to search for her in the surrounding area. But just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse… another kidnapper arrived at the playground and began skulking around its perimeter, where nine-year-old Jeremy Lyons was now playing with his mom. Unfortunately, law enforcement chose that moment to broadcast an Amber Alert to all wireless devices in the region, causing an extremely loud, distracting sound to emit from every phone within miles. The adults at the playground were busy reading the details of the alert as the second kidnapper swooped in to snatch Jeremy, and no one in the vicinity noticed him in the back of the criminal’s minivan because they were so focused on spotting a blonde girl in a white Toyota Camry.
Just awful.
But you know what they say: The only thing worse than a double tragedy is a triple tragedy. An Ohio Amber Alert representative said they remain hopeful that the alert that just went out for Jeremy’s abduction will not lead to a third kidnapping, though they admitted that it was too early to know for sure.
Wow. Here’s hoping that at least one of those kids is found so this can drop back down to a single tragedy, because this double tragedy is pretty tough to bear. Columbus, Ohio is really having one of those days today!
