That's
any breaking news story, that's not limited to this. Look back at the thread when the Aurora shooting first happened, and they were getting all kinds of crazy information from the news as that was developing. The victims were all kids, there was a bomb, he was dressed up as Bane, etc...
The media is terrible at it, because they take anything and everything they can get and report it just to have something on the air (I heard the call with the Duane Reade hoax too), but it is an important breaking news story that needs more than 10 minutes on the air.
Until they knew that the shooter was down, there was a possibility that there was still a danger in the city, it's causing streets to be closed down and there's a huge police presence in midtown right now. They're lousy at breaking the right news right away, but they do have a responsibility to let people know why these things are happening. This isn't a typical morning in NY.
I'm uptown right now, and no one's in a panic. Just checking the news to see what's going on. I'm still seeing TDKR again after work tonight.