A stampede occurred after midnight on Sunday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn when rumors spread about an active shooter nearby.
At least ten people were hurt when others began yelling about someone opening fire, but the claims turned out not to be true, TMZ reported early Sunday morning.
Video footage posted on social media showed people running all over the building, trying to find cover and escape what they thought was a dangerous situation.
“Scary moment as crowds pour back into Barclays Center, my fear was a shooting but those fears proved unfounded,” wrote journalist Ryan Songalia:
It was not immediately clear how the rumor began, but a security guard noted it was believed someone had opened fire outside the building, causing people leaving the boxing event to rush inside.
In a social media post minutes before 6:00 a.m. on Sunday, the NYPD’s 78th Precinct said it investigated what happened at the Barclays Center but determined that no shots were fired at the scene:
Video footage showed emergency vehicles outside the venue and first responders placing individuals into waiting ambulances:
A young man named Joshua told Freedom News TV he was going down the escalator and heard “shots” then described the noise as “loud thuds.”
“And I just see a flood of people running towards me. People were getting stampeded, people were getting stepped on,” he said.
“People just ran up the escalator. Everyone was scared, I don’t know. It was weird, it was weird. It was my first time being here, at the Barclays Center,” he added:
Authorities said the ten people who were hurt were later transported to a hospital, suffering from minor injuries, according to the TMZ article.
Meanwhile, ESPN’s Mike Coppinger reported early Sunday that Detective Navarro with the NYPD said there were no shots fired and no one was arrested following the incident:
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