This article is over 2 years old 
 
 Reports of shots fired in Terminal 8 trigger security alert, with flights diverted away from New York airport or grounded 
 
 JFK given all-clear after unfounded reports of shooting cause chaos 
 
 Two terminals at John F Kennedy airport are resuming normal operations after reports of shots fired caused chaos for travellers as people were evacuated and fights were grounded or diverted. 
 
 The reports were later determined to be unfounded and the New York airport was given the all-clear. 
 
 Port Authority police said they received reports of shots fired at Terminal 8 near the departures area at about 9.30pm on Sunday (1.30am BST). Police said they closed Terminal 1 following additional reports of shots fired. 
 
 However, in a briefing early on Monday, Joe Pentangelo, a Port Authority spokesman, said: “At this time, no firearm, rounds, shell casings or other evidence of shots fired has been found.” 
 
 The New York police department’s head of special operations tweeted that nothing suspicious had been found in a search of the terminals. 
 
 
 
 NYPD Special Ops (@NYPDSpecialops) JFK UPDATE: All terminals searched & cleared. Negative results. All affected terminals will resume operations shortly. No shots were fired. 
 
 A senior law enforcement official told NBC the security alert had been triggered when a woman coming off a plane reported hearing gunshots in Terminal 8. 
 
 One official said the noise could have been cheering and banging while passengers watched the Olympics. 
 
 Alex Johnson (@MAlexJohnson) Official tells @NBCNews the JFK "gunfire" MAY have been people clapping and banging while watching the Olympics. https://t.co/dodSZe4dzF 
 
 The security alert led to travel chaos for thousands. The Federal Aviation Administration announced a “full ground stop” on all air traffic arriving at JFK until 11.30pm. Some flights were diverted and tracking website Flightradar said delays in the area were increasing. 
 
 Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) Delays growing as authorities resolve situation at JFK. Some inbound flights diverting. https://t.co/IDw48RS9RX pic.twitter.com/ysjDTQY85a 
 
 Jason Rabinowitz (@AirlineFlyer) Aircraft movement in terminal areas starting up again. It will take all night to get JFK back up & running at 100%. https://t.co/Nu60PhCxND 
 
 An expressway approaching JFK also was shut down. Passengers were allowed back into some terminals and flights began departing again at about midnight. 
 
 Images posted on social media during the evacuation showed scores of people standing outside the terminals. 
 
 Robbie Rob (@locodoggy) Everyone is being kicked out of the terminal. Police on alert! #JFK pic.twitter.com/0r5WSdkFeC 
 
 bipashaghosh (@bghosh) The scene outside Terminal 8 #JFK. Airport shooting. pic.twitter.com/W5dce6XRSG 
 
 Travellers who had been evacuated said police told them it was “not safe” to stay inside. 
 
 Dan Archer (@archcomix) Panic at jfk theyre closing the gates at security-possible shooter pic.twitter.com/OJUIFaenEI 
 
 Dan Archer (@archcomix) Police won't say anything except "it's not safe to stay here" as we leave terminal 8 
 
 People inside Terminal 8 described panic when the evacuation order was given. 
 
 Justin D. Martin (@Justin_D_Martin) I tried to grab my belongings but when TSA security took off sprinting I left everything. 
 
 One passenger onboard a plane that had landed at JFK said the aircraft was being held on the tarmac due to an emergency. 
 
 Jared Malsin (@jmalsin) JFK: Pilot on this British Airways flight says an "emergency in another part of the airport." Been waiting to disembark for 1.5 hours. 
 
 Jared Malsin (@jmalsin) JFK: Captain tells us it "might be some time" before we disembark due to an "incident that is occurring" in the airport. 
 
 JFK, which has six terminals – two have previously been demolished – is the busiest international air passenger gateway into the US. More than 53 million people travelled through the airport in 2014. 
 
 Associated Press contributed to this report ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 / Updated By Alex Johnson and Jonathan Dienst 
 
 Multiple emergency agencies rushed to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport in response to a report Sunday night that shots had been fired, but there was no gunfire, authorities said. 
 
 Police declared early Monday that the two terminals where reports emerged had been searched and cleared. An official told NBC News that cheering, clapping and banging from people watching the Olympic Games may have been misinterpreted as a fight and gunshots. 
 
 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. 
 
 About 45 minutes later, a second call came in reporting that shots had been fired in Terminal 1, the Port Authority said. 
 
 Officers patrol Terminal 8 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Sunday night. Jordan Carson 
 
 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. 
 
 The initial alarm spread through Terminal 8 and to Terminal 1, one of the officials said. 
 
 "There are no reported injuries or arrests at this time," the agency said. "Preliminary investigation does not indicate shots were fired at JFK." 
 
 The New York Fire Department told NBC News that it had crews on scene to lend assistance if needed. Port Authority and New York police were investigating. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites.
– These are tense times, so it's no surprise that reports of shots fired at New York City's JFK Airport caused chaos Sunday night: Two terminals were evacuated, an NYPD anti-terror unit rushed to the airport, and flights were stopped on the ground or diverted after shots were reported at around 9:30pm, the New York Daily News reports. But authorities found no evidence that any shots had been fired, and a police source tells NBC New York that the alarm may have been raised when a woman coming off a plane mistook cheering, shouting, and banging from people watching the Olympics as a fight and gunshots. Witnesses described scenes of panic as the order to evacuate the terminals was given and even TSA staff began to run. Police sources say a few other reports of gunshots came in around the same time—which matches up with the time Usain Bolt won an amazing third Olympic gold in the 100 meters. "At this time, no firearm, rounds, shell casings, or other evidence of shots fired has been found," a Port Authority spokesman told reporters early Monday. The Guardian reports that after travel delays for thousands of people, officials gave the all-clear and flights from JFK resumed around midnight.