'Mockingbird' Broadway show ends in panic as people confuse motorcycle backfire for gunshots

A Broadway performance of "To Kill a Mockingbird", starring Jeff Daniels, ended abruptly after panicked passers-by mistook a motorcycle to backfire for gunshots and stormed out of the theatre for safety ON Wednesday.

Witnesses said they saw people screaming and climbing over each other, scattering north on Broadway after loud sounds were heard at the Crossroads of the World sometime around 9:30 PM. According to the New York Police Department (NYPD), multiple backfires on the road happened near Eighth Avenue and West 42nd Street. A video which soon went viral on social media shows people running in panic, given the recent mass shootings in Texas and Ohio. Watch the video here:

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Gideon Glick, an actor in the play, tweeted that the performance in the Shubert Theatre had to be stopped as people thought they were in the middle of a shooting:

Actor Merle Dandridge, who was in the audience, said she had to crouch on the floor of the theatre amid the pandemonium:

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However, the NYPD later tweeted that Times Square was safe and people need not panic:

As per reports, other theatres in the areas were also affected by the incident. Paranoia looms after the recent mass shootings in Texas and Ohio.   

(With PTI Inputs)