Crowds fled in horror in New York’s iconic Times Square after fears of gunshots.
Eyewitness footage captured the moment that tourists and residents sprinted for their lives in abject panic.
The alarm took place at approximately 10 pm local time Tuesday night in one of the city’s busiest intersections, just days after the US witnessed three mass shootings in a week.
The NYPD was quick to urge calm and declare the event a false alarm, confirming that it was actually a motorcycle backfiring which may have sounded like gunshots.
There is no #ActiveShooter in #TimesSquare. Motorcycles backfiring while passing through sounded like gun shots.
We are recieving multiple 911 calls. Please don’t panic. The Times Square area is very safe! @NYPDnews @NYPDTimesSquare
— NYPD Midtown North (@NYPDMTN) August 7, 2019
Tensions remain high across the US following a spate of high-profile mass shootings in quick succession.
Some nine people were killed and a further 26 injured in a shooting at a bar district in Dayton, Ohio just hours after a massacre in El Paso, Texas which claimed the lives of 22 people.