Terminal 8 at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport was evacuated on Sunday night, after there were reports of gunfire. Police later announced that “No shots were fired”:
JFK UPDATE: All terminals searched & cleared. Negative results. All affected terminals will resume operations shortly. No shots were fired.
— NYPD Special Ops (@NYPDSpecialops) August 15, 2016
And it turns out that the “gunshot” noises were probably just people cheering for Usain Bolt as he won his third consecutive gold medal in the 100 meters.
NBC News reports that “cheering, clapping and banging from the Olympic Games may have been misinterpreted as a fight and gunshots”:
A senior law enforcement official told NBC News that the concern started when a woman coming off a plane said she thought she’d heard gunfire. Two other law enforcement officials also said at least one person reported having heard gunfire. One of the officials said cheering, clapping and banging from people watching the Olympic Games may have been misinterpreted as a fight and gunshots. The initial alarm spread through Terminal 8 and to Terminal 1, the official said.
The report of gunshots came in at 9:30 PM ET, as The Port Authority told NBC News:
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said JFK’s Terminal 8 was evacuated “as a precaution” after the report, which came in about 9:30 p.m. ET. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a brief ground stop at the airport for an unspecified security incident.
Well, as Deadspin’s Timothy Burke astutely notes, 9:30 PM ET was when Bolt had just finished running for the gold medal:
The Port Authority told NBC the initial call came in “around 9:30″ — or roughly one minute after Usain Bolt finished winning his third-straight gold medal in the 100 meters.
That would certainly make sense.
Here’s how Jamaica reacted to Bolt winning another gold:
History has been made
Usain Bolt WINS his 3rd consecutive Olympic Men’s 100m title & Jamaica celebrates! #FlowToRio pic.twitter.com/HXbo9tRkOx
— FLOW Jamaica (@FLOWJamaica) August 15, 2016
This is how HWT reacts during the semis, imagine what will happen during the #Rio2016 Men’s 100m final! #FlowToRio pic.twitter.com/hWj7sJD7iK
— FLOW Jamaica (@FLOWJamaica) August 15, 2016