MOSCOW (Sputnik) – New Jersey-bound crossings in Staten Island, New York, suffered traffic delays after police were put on high alert over photos of people handling what was thought to be semi-automatic rifles, but was most likely just paintball guns, New York Daily News reports.
The Coast Guard stations at Fort Wadsworth Staten Island and Fort Hancock in New Jersey were locked down for several hours amid a New York Police Department (NYPD) investigation into the incident, the newspaper said on Friday.
"Interviews conducted by NYPD and FBI investigators in New Jersey have revealed that the registered owner of one of the vehicles indicated that he was planning to go paintball shooting with friends," NYPD Intelligence and Counter Terrorism Deputy Commissioner John Miller said as quoted by the New York Daily News on Friday.
However, NYPD did not rule out other scenarios and set up checkpoints to search for the individuals captured in the photos, disrupting traffic in Staten Island.
