16 injured at Penn Station after stun gun causes stampede

April 15 (UPI) -- More than a dozen people were injured when passengers at New York's Penn Station stampeded into the streets after police used a stun gun on a suspect.

NYPD said 16 people were injured when passengers began to flee the station in a frenzy after mistaking the sound of the stun gun for gunshots being fired.

Reports of shots fired at the station were ultimately determined to be unfounded according to New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD.

"We received several dozen 911 calls from Penn Station and on 34th Street from Seventh Avenue to Broadway. All of those calls were determined to be unfounded," NYPD Chief William Morris told CBS New York. "Given our experience dealing with similar situations, we were able to quickly review all the 911 calls and determine that there were no actual shots fired."

Passengers left the station screaming and crying and misinformation about the alleged shooting spread to a nearby Macy's, causing customers to flee the store as well.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority stated Amtrak police placed two people in custody for disobeying orders and used a stun gun on one person.

The panic occurred after 1,200 passengers had been trapped on a disabled New Jersey Transit train for three hours earlier in the day, causing delays throughout the station.

Penn Station also experienced severe delays on March 24, when an Amtrak train derailed and scraped an New Jersey Transit train pulling into the station.