A motorcycle backfiring in New York's Times Square on Tuesday night sent crowds running for fear in the wake of two deadly mass shootings in the US.
Video footage shared on social media shows a mass of people scrambling to safety after the loud noise of a motorcycle passing by sparked fears of an active shooter.
NYPD Midtown North on Twitter said the passing vehicle ''sounded like gunshots'' and that the area was safe.
The heightened tensions came after nine people and the suspect were killed in Dayton, Ohio on Sunday and in El Paso, Texas, where 22 people were killed at a Walmart store on Saturday, before the gunman was taken alive.
A motorcycle backfiring in New York's Times Square sent crowds running for fear in the wake of two deadly mass shootings in the US. | https://t.co/I2eFcg8aJN pic.twitter.com/W7kCq9x897
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) August 7, 2019
