'Just an abomination': Hawaii Sen Brian Schatz blasts Hawaii's 'terrifying' false ballistic missile warning

Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) blasted civil defense officials in Hawaii for failing to grasp the enormity of their false alarm error during a Saturday interview with CNN's Ana Cabrera.

Hawaii officials sent incorrect emergency alerts warning of inbound ballistic missiles.

"What is going through your mind after hearing from state officials about what happened?" Cabrera asked.

"This is not acceptable," Sen. Schatz declared. "People were terrified, children were sheltering in place in locker rooms, people were crying, businesses were shutting down."

The senator stressed that "the anxiety that we went through was real and terrifying across the state of Hawaii."

"I listened in on that press conference and they don't understand how bad this was," Schatz continued.

"I'm a pretty even keeled guy, but I'm quite angry," Schatz admitted.

"The fact that state government knew it was a false alarm and then took between 30 and 40 minutes to inform the rest of the public is just an abomination," Schatz concluded.