[There was no gunfire. But the fear was very real, and exposed a new level of national unease.]

Just before 10 p.m. Tuesday, Celia Keenan-Bolger, who plays Scout Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird” at the Shubert Theater, was giving her final speech of the night when a nearby motorcycle backfired several times.

But just days after mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, left 31 people dead, many people outside the theater feared another attack.

The Daniels Group, a construction firm, posted footage on Twitter of people fleeing Times Square.