NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Security checkpoints were set up on Staten Island late Friday afternoon after several people were spotted carrying what looked like assault rifles – but police later said the weapons were likely paintball guns.

The NYPD had issued a “be on the lookout” alert after several people carrying what appeared to be assault rifles were photographed at the Midland Beach parking lot.

The photos were taken by a retired member of the NYPD, CBS2’s Dave Carlin reported.

The images showed a man and woman handling the rifles and pointing them in the windows of two cars.

But NYPD firearms experts conducted a forensic examination of the photographs, and their preliminary opinion was that “the weapons in the pictures strongly resemble replicas of firearms used in paintball games,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism John Miller said in a statement.