False Alarm About Shooting Causes Panic, Injuries On Subway Train

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - There was panic on the subway this morning when a fight prompted a race for safety, sending several people to the hospital.

At around 9 a.m. there was a fight aboard a downtown #2 train at Central Park North and Lenox Avenue when someone yelled out something like "gun" or "shots fired," according to the MTA.

That prompted other passengers to try to charge out of the car.

"I asked the guy next to me 'What's going on?' and he said, 'I don't know, just run,'" one passenger told CBS2's Ali Bauman.

Instincts took over for dozens of commuters, who raced from the car so quickly some left their shoes behind, Bauman reported. Some passengers were trampled.

"As soon as the door opened... people started running out of the train. I just started running with them," said Lessley Rolin.

"I just happened to be at the end of the door, and one guy pulled the door and broke my wrist, and then trampled on top of me," one woman told Bauman.

Some commuters told Bauman they believe they heard gunshots. Police said there was no shooting.

"All I did was heard someone behind me all of a sudden just go pap! pap! pap!" said Kathy Keith. "I had my little boy, grabbed him up. He didn't know what was going on, I said 'Just come on, we'll be OK,' and I took him out."

Some said lingering fear from the Orlando shooting has made them more alert in crowded places.

"One thing is that you see it on TV, and then another is like when it happens to you, it's like super scarier," said Rolin. "You don't even know what to do."

Military intelligence officer Manuel Gomez said panicking is perhaps the worst thing to do in a possible attack.

"Turn around, get down on your knees, lay down, stay calm, play dead, and if you can get behind any object that's hard concrete, metal, something that would stop or reflect a bullet," Gomez said.

In the event of an active shooter, the NYPD advises commuters to practice the ABC's.

Avoid: get out of the building. Barricade: block doors to make entry as difficult as possible. And as a last resort, confront: try to overpower the shooter with as much force as possible.

Some passengers went to the hospital for minor injuries they received in the scramble to escape. Police said no one was seriously hurt, Bauman reported.