By Olivia Scheck, Ben Fractenberg and Tom Liddy
DNAinfo Staff
HERALD SQUARE — Chaos erupted outside Macy's Thursday after Justin Bieber, at the store to promote his new fragrance line "Someday," came outside to meet fans, witnesses and sources said.
Early reports indicated that the star was attacked in the maelstrom and suffered a minor injury, but cops denied that he was touched.
Sources said that Bieber's people asked the NYPD if he could go outside and wave to the thousands of fans who had gathered around 3 p.m. at the department store.
When the singing sensation came outside, he strayed from a secured area that the cops had established, according to the sources.
At that point, excited fans rushed the barricades, knocking them over.
Cops jumped in to control the crowd at the Broadway entrance. When they tried to get Bieber back to safety, a security guard in the star's detail refused to get out of the way.
The 47-year-old guard, based out of Panama City Beach, Fl., was issued a summons for disorderly conduct and released, the sources said.
An earlier report said a man in the crowd leaped over a barricade, according to Fox 5.
Witnesses said the singing sensation said "What? What?" as the screaming suspect knocked him to the ground, according to the station.
"He came out of the door…and then the guy jumpd over the fence trying to punch everybody,” Norielis, 15, who was visiting from Puerto Rico, told DNAinfo.
Macy's denied that Bieber was attacked and said to refer to an article on TMZ.com.
According to the report, an undercover cop tried to help Bieber when he was rushed by fans. But because the officer was in plainclothes, Bieber got spooked, thinking he was a fan. That's when the security guard jumped in and grabbed the cop.
The NYPD did not immediately respond to an email for comment about the report.
"The event at Macy's Herald Square was exciting, and everything that a celebrity meet and greet with the hottest teen idol was supposed to be," Macy's said in a later statement. "Girls lined up days in advance to be the first 325 to buy his new fragrance Someday and get the chance to meet him up close. Hundreds got a chance to see him outside upon his arrival to the store, and the event inside was incredible, energetic and full of emotion for the teens, tweens, their friends and moms."
In a statement, Bieber's publicist, Melissa Victor said: "This was a momentary, well-intentioned misunderstanding that was quickly resolved, and the event went very well."
Earlier in the day, a massive crowd of love-sick Bieber fans exchanged trivia about the teen pop sensation.
"He was born March 7, 1994, 12:56 a.m. on a Tuesday," Genesis Wimmer and her friend Jessica, 12-year-olds from Queens, said in unison, as they camped out outside the department store's 34th Street entrance.
"We just study him — we love him so much," Genesis explained.
Other fans expounded on the singer's tendency to wear Band-Aids on his fingers — "not because he has a cut, just because he likes it" — and on his love of pickles.
Bieber fever first hit Herald Square Tuesday night, when fans began lining up for tickets to the perfume event, which didn't go on sale until Wednesday morning.
The lucky 325 people to score tickets paid $150 for the fragrance package and for the privilege of taking a picture with Bieber Thursday afternoon.
Though security guards warned that it would not affect the order of admission, eager fans arrived as early as 5 a.m. Thursday to stake out their spots outside Macy's.
Five hours later, Macy's security guards ushered ticketed fans to the eighth floor where the event would be held, but 30 minutes later the attendees were sent back outside and told to return closer to Bieber's expected arrival at 2 p.m.
The news was even worse for Bieber enthusiasts who hadn't procured tickets the previous day.
Surly security guards gave the dozens of purple-clad but ticketless fans loitering on the ground floor a simple ultimatum: go shopping or get out.
"They didn't have to be so rude about it," commented Lorraine Licul, 45, a mom from Syosset, Long Island, who brought her two daughters and a friend to see Bieber on the "Today Show" but didn't know they needed tickets for the Macy's event. "You're gonna have a lot of upset fans here."
Another shut-out fan, Shantel, 13, of Queens, warned that the security guards would regret their ill-tempored demeanors.
"[The security guards are] messing with 'Beliebers' [and] that's not a good idea," said the disappointed middle schooler, who was accompanied by an older cousin.
"I just wanted to touch him."
