At around 9.30pm on Sunday night, JFK airport in New York was partially evacuated when reports of gun fire were made to local police.
Terminal 8 was put into a state of lockdown, flights were temporarily diverted to Buffalo, and social media feeds lit up with people on the ground being told to leave the building.
Police won't say anything except "it's not safe to stay here" as we leave terminal 8
— Dan Archer (@archcomix) August 15, 2016
Panic at jfk theyre closing the gates at security-possible shooter pic.twitter.com/OJUIFaenEI
— Dan Archer (@archcomix) August 15, 2016
Latest: Here's the scene outside of JFK Airport, terminal 8. Abundance of caution caused evacuation.
Via: @bghosh pic.twitter.com/FqSEZB7Hud
— Hardys Closet® (@HardysCloset) August 15, 2016
By 11pm local time, police had confirmed there were no arrests made, no bullet cases found, and no concrete evidence of there having been any shots fired at all.
Early this morning, police told NBC News that "the two terminals where reports emerged had been searched and cleared. An official told NBC News that cheering, clapping and banging from people watching the Olympic Games may have been misinterpreted as a fight and gunshots."
At around 9.25pm on Sunday night (New York time), Usain Bolt took part in the 100-meter race, and won the race less than 10-seconds later, which would indicate that that cheering in the airport was for Bolt, although how that cheering and clapping could be misinterpreted as a shooter isn't quite as clear.
