Sam Amico
A vehicle that sped toward U.S. and Canada and border before crashing and exploding does not appear to be a terrorist attack, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
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Two people reportedly died in the crash, which took place on the Rainbow Bridge at the border checkpoint in Niagara Falls.
“Based on what we know at this moment,” Hochul told reporters, “there is no sign of terrorist activity in this crash.”
The crash closed the border in four locations and raised concerns. The White House said that President Joe Biden was “closely following developments,” and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said officials were “taking this extraordinarily seriously.”
According to Fox 5 News:
“The two deceased people were in the vehicle, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Aaron Ferguson, a spokesperson for the city of Niagara Falls, New York, said the vehicle was traveling at high speed from that city and crashed into the border station.
“Jim Diodati, the mayor of Niagara Falls, Ontario, told The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that what happened appeared to be ‘an isolated incident.'”
One witness told WGRZ-TV that the vehicle was speeding toward border patrol from the U.S. side.
“All of a sudden, he went up in the air and then it was a ball of fire like 30 or 40 feet high,” the witness told the outlet. “I never saw anything like it.”
