CBS New York News reported the event in a video interview that showed a “tidal wave of people running for their lives - or so they believed."
“Witnesses were still trembling when they described what it was like here earlier,” according to CBS. “Broadway shows were just letting out; tourists were enjoying the warm summer night; and then they thought they heard gunshots.”
Only two days after separate shooters attacked the communities of El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, those in Times Square thought the worst was happening.
More than 30 people were killed and dozens more injured in last weekend’s mass shootings. President Donald Trump visited Texas and Ohio on Wednesday.
CBS talked to people who were in the chaotic crowd in Times Square. They described people literally running without their shoes, dropping their bags, jumping over counters for shelter and even trampling those who could not keep up.
“They were all running, they were running everywhere, almost got hit by cars and everything - they jumped out of their shoes, there were shoes everywhere,” one witness, Ave Guzman described.
Another witness, David Ryan, told CBS that “a lot of kids were crying.”
“We just were against the wall and we just hugged each other, and it was chaos of people panicking and running,” recalled witness Tara Clawson. “ I just wanted to protect my children and safety and praying that this wasn’t the end.”
Police said there were several injuries, but none of them were life-threatening.