New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport evacuated after reports of gunman in terminal
Operations returning to normal after cops confirm no shots had been fired
Panic ensued at New York City's John F. Kennedy Airport on Sunday night after cops received reports of shots fired at two different terminals, sparking a massive evacuation.
The calls came in separately — the first a little after 9.30pm local time (2.30am BST) in the departure area of Terminal 8 and the second at around 10.15pm local time (3.15am BST) in Terminal 1 — leading to a massive law enforcement hunt for an armed individual.
Authorities were unable to confirm the reports, though, and nobody was arrested, according to police.
NYPD Emergency Services Unit officers with automatic weapons were spotted scouring the area as passengers took cover outside cement traffic barriers.
Thousands of people were ultimately forced to flee the airport in the wake of the incident.
“If you’re forgetting anything it’s not worth your life, everyone move now!” one officer yelled during the mayhem.
As a precaution, flights were diverted to nearby Buffalo airport and cops chose to close the main motorway leading to the airport.
“I went in to get a boarding pass, the guy from the counter bolted out and everybody was running around and I’m like what the f**k,” recalled Robert a New Yorker flying to London. “We got motioned to go in to security, we wait there and the police motioned for us to go out. So we all ran out…It was freaky.”
A statement from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, confirmed no evidence of gunfire had been found, and that the evacuation was due to "an abundance of caution". Later, New York police confirmed on Twitter that all terminals would resume operations after no evidence of shots having been fired was found in any terminal.