Georgina Lonton was watching a street artist create a painting for her son near Times Square on Tuesday night when people began screaming about a gunman headed their way.

“We looked to Times Square and the commotion and a sea of people running towards us,” she told The Independent. “It took time to process and then we tuned into people screaming there was a shooter coming. You couldn’t have stood still as the flow of people was too strong.”

She and a friend quickly grabbed their five children and double stroller while attempting to stick together amid the fleeing crowds. As they rushed out of the area, she said she saw another woman’s baby get knocked out of her arms.

Fortunately, there wasn’t a shooter: motorcycle engines backfiring as they passed through Times Square caused several visitors to believe they heard gun shots, the New York Police Department confirmed. But Ms Lonton wasn’t alone in fearing the worst: Americans experienced false alarms of active shooter situations nationwide after mass shootings over the weekend in both El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.

In Utah, the Valley Fair mall was evacuated on Tuesday night after a sign fell and made a loud noise, causing patrons to mistake the sound for gunfire.

“As you can imagine, there's a heightened sense of fear right now with things that have gone on around our country," West Valley City Police spokesperson Roxeanne Vainuku told local media outlets shortly after, adding: “People were in a full-on panic.”

El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Show all 39 1 /39 El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store CCTV images of the gunman identified as Patrick Crusius The 21 year old, as he entered the Cielo Vista Walmart store in El Paso. The gunman was armed with an assault rifle and opened fire on shoppers at a packed Walmart store, killing 20. KTSM 9/AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Law enforcement agencies respond The Texas city’s police chief said the assault on a Walmart store on Saturday, which left another 26 people wounded, was being investigated as a potential hate crime. AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Shoppers exit with their hands up Shoppers exit with their hands up after a mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, U.S. August 3, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Salgado NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. STRINGER Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store FBI released a picture of gunman Patrick Crusius The police officially identified the 21-year-old white male from Allen, Texas, a Dallas suburb some 650 miles east of El Paso. FBI/AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A woman reacts after the mass shooting The attack came just minutes after a far-right manifesto appeared online. If authentic, it would make it the third mass shooting this year announced in advance on the website, which often features far-right and racist content. Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Law enforcement responds to the active shooter The racist four-page document, titled “The Inconvenient Truth”, calls the Walmart attack “a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas” and expresses support for the gunman who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand earlier this year. AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A shopper hiding with an old lady behind the return and exchanges counter as the shooting began. Aaron Castaneda/Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Ambulances in the car park near the scene It is ranked as the eighth-deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, after a 1984 shooting in San Ysidro, California, that claimed 21 lives. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Kendall Long (left) comforts Kianna Long (right) who was in the freezer section of Walmart. EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store epa07755367 Police stand at attention after a shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, USA, 03 August 2019. According to reports, at least one person was killed and at least 18 people injured and transported to local hospitals. One suspect is in custody. EPA/IVAN PIERRE AGUIRRE IVAN PIERRE AGUIRRE EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Shoppers exit with their hands up. Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Shopping carts sit next to a curb after the shooting. EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store El Paso Fire Medical personnel arrive at the scene. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Walmart employees react after. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A woman runs to police near the scene. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Several law enforcement agencies respond. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People arrive at MacArthur Elementary looking for family and friends as the school is being used a re-unification centre. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Residents Erica Rios, 36, and Alma Rios, 61, cry outside a reunification centre. AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People gather in Juarez, Mexico, in a vigil for the Mexican nationals who were killed. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A child takes part in a vigil in Ciudad Juarez AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Francisco Castaneda joins mourners taking part in a vigil at El Paso High School. Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Presidential candidate and former congressman Beto O'Rourke, right, meets with mass shooting survivor, Rosemary, at University Medical Centre Beto O'Rourke Facebook via AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store From left, Melody Stout, Hannah Payan, Aaliyah Alba, Sherie Gramlich and Laura Barrios comfort each other during a vigil for victims of the shooting. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A sign is posted near the scene Getty Images El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Police cars parked below the Walmart sign block a road outside while investigating. EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Sherie Gramlich reacts during a vigil. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A man places flowers at the site Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People take part in a rally against hate a day after a mass shooting at the Walmart store Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Lupe Lopez holds a picture of a victim during a vigil for victims AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People take part in a rally against hate a day after a mass shooting at a Walmart store, in El Paso, Texas, U.S. August 4, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ REUTERS El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Elsa Mendoza Marquez, a Mexican schoolteacher who was married and the mother of two adult children, was one of the victims Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People with the Mexican flag and the US flag take part in a rally against hate a day Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People raise their arms in the air during a vigil for victims AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People react and embrace each other Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Women light candles at a make shift memorial at the site of a mass shooting EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Adria Gonzalez (centre) who is being hailed as a hero for leading some Walmart customers to safety, speaks to the crowd AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People hold up their phones AFP/Getty Images El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Beto O'Rourke speaks to the crowd AFP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People react during a prayer and candle vigil organized by the city, after a shooting left 20 people dead at the Cielo Vista Mall WalMart in El Paso, Texas, on August 4, 2019. - A shooting at a Walmart store in Texas left multiple people dead. At least one suspect was taken into custody after the shooting in the border city of El Paso, triggering fear and panic among weekend shoppers as well as widespread condemnation. It was the second fatal shooting in less than a week at a Walmart store in the US and comes after a mass shooting in California last weekend. (Photo by Mark RALSTON / AFP)MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images MARK RALSTON AFP/Getty

Residents in Baton Rouge, Louisiana also feared the worst as police rushed to a local Wal-Mart. A branch of the chain store was the site of the deadly shooting in El Paso on Saturday, where a gunman killed 22 people after reportedly posting an anti-immigrant screed online.

A spokesperson for the city of Baton Rouge later told The Independent there was never an active shooter situation, but that at least one person was being treated for minor injuries after people fled the scene.

Police said an altercation had occurred between two men, one of whom may have been seen with a handgun. "When customers saw the handgun, panic set in, and customers were running and screaming while trying to exit the store," the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office told local news outlets. “Given the recent events in El Paso and Dayton, and given the initial information we received via 911 calls and witnesses exiting the store, we responded with what we feel is appropriate."

Then on Monday afternoon, the USA Today offices in Virginia were evacuated as police responded to reports of a man with a gun near the publication's headquarters. The FBI quickly confirmed those reported were mistaken, and the offices were cleared without any incident or harm.

Ms Lonton, a New Jersey resident who grew up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, said she was “not totally alien to these situations” and that her “kids got the biggest fright”.

“We had taken precautions and written my cell number on all five kids' wrists in case we got separated. It can easily happen we learnt last night,” she said. “My little guy didn’t get his painting with his chosen colours so he then was so upset, but I think that was shock too.”

Just like the mass shootings that have become all too common in America, resulting false alarms like the ones seen this week are nothing new.

The Friday before a gunman stormed the Wal-Mart in El Paso, the City Attorney’s Office in San Diego, California was evacuated due to an inaccurate report of an active shooter sent out across an internal safety application shared with local police.

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“Thank God, it was false,” Evon Perryman, a city victim’s services co-ordinator, told NBC San Diego. “Someone said those two scary words, ‘active shooter’ so I didn't get scared; I remembered the training I had.”

As for Ms Lonton, getting swept up in the false alarm at Times Square reminded her just how easily friends and families can be separated during a terrifying situation.