In this August 14, 2016 photo provided by Diana Brooks, arriving passengers in the passport control area of New York’s Kennedy Airport stay close to the ground after authorities ordered them to get down on the floor in fear of a possible shooter on the loose.
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Operations are back to normal this morning and Terminals 1 and 8 are in the process of reopening, now that Port Authority police have confirmed those initial reports of shots fired at the airport were unfounded.
The Associated Press has obtained an internal brief from the New York Police Department which says patrons became “extremely disruptive” after watching the Olympics.
Port Authority of NY and New Jersey police say they are trying to determine why travelers in New York’s busiest airport thought gunshots were ringing out through a terminal at 9:34 p.m. Sunday. The Van Wyck Expressway approaching the airport also was shut down.
Passengers at Terminal 8 of JFK International Airport were evacuated from the building on Sunday evening, following reports gun shots had been fired in the area.
But that panic was due to nothing, police said.
The alleged shots were heard around 9:30 p.m. which coincides with the moment after the beloved Jamaican sprinter snagged his third straight gold medal in the 100-meter race.
Video taken by a witness Sunday night contains a loud noise that could be mistaken for the reported gunshot, but law enforcement officials have told ABC News that this is not the case. All affected terminals will resume operations shortly.
One video showed startled travelers scrambling for cover as a team of police officers swept through the terminal, weapons drawn, shouting for people to get down on the ground.
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Ryan Jorgenson, a senior aviation data analyst at the aviation research firm FlightAware, estimated about 15 flights were canceled, 115 flights were delayed, and 17 flights were diverted to another airport as a result of the security scare at JFK.
