The NYPD are investigating an incident where a group of people was spotted this morning in an area of Staten Island with rifles.
Early this morning, a retired NYPD officer spotted a group of reportedly six - four men and two women - with hijabs, at a Midland Beach parking lot with rifles in their hands in two cars with NJ license plates.
It is unclear at this time if the group is linked to a recent spur of paintball or if perhaps this was an imminent terror attack.
According to police, in light of the recent Tennessee shooting, authorities are being cautious and have heightened area security. There is heavy traffic on the Staten Island Bridges as police have a checkpoint underway at this time.
NYPD are continuing to investigate incident.
UPDATE 4:20 p.m. The license plates for the vehicle comes back to a paintball company.