NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — The FBI has ended its investigation of a fiery automobile wreck that killed two individuals at a border checkpoint in Niagara Falls after discovering no proof that it was a terror assault, easing a interval of excessive tensions as Americans headed into the Thanksgiving vacation.
The FBI’s determination late Wednesday got here a number of hours after the car raced via an intersection, hit a median and was launched via the air earlier than slamming right into a line of cubicles and exploding on the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. Local police at the moment are dealing with the case as a visitors investigation.
“A search of the scene revealed no explosive materials, and no terrorism nexus was identified,” the FBI’s Buffalo workplace stated in an announcement. “The matter has been turned over to the Niagara Falls Police Department as a traffic investigation.”
The investigation has been taken over by the Niagara Falls Police Department’s Crash Management Unit, in accordance with a information launch from town’s police division, which added “Due to the complexity of the incident, the investigation will take some time to complete.”
The two individuals who died have been a husband and spouse, in accordance with an individual briefed on the investigation who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to launch details about the individuals who have been killed. The identities of these within the automobile haven’t but been launched.
The crash prompted the closure of the Rainbow Bridge and three different bridges connecting western New York and Ontario, as federal officers swarmed the world and each U.S. President Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau obtained briefings. Hours later, officers sought to calm issues on what’s one the busiest journey days of the yr.
“Based on what we know at this moment,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul stated at a information convention, “there is no sign of terrorist activity in this crash.”
Hochul, a Democrat, stated the automobile was “basically incinerated” with nothing left however the engine and a scattering of charred particles. Later Wednesday night time, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer stated investigators had discovered “no connection to any terrorist or felony group. He added that there was no proof of chemical compounds or substances utilized in explosives throughout investigators’ swabbing of the scene.
The Rainbow Bridge has about 6,000 automobiles cross it every day, in accordance with the U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory.
Witness Rickie Wilson, a Niagara Falls tour information, was by his parked automobile close by and rotated when he noticed one thing within the air.
“I first thought it was an airplane. It looked like slow motion,” he stated. “I said, ‘My God, it’s a car. It’s a vehicle, and it’s flying through the air.’”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”