NIAGARA FALLS, NY — The FBI has ended its investigation into a fiery car crash that killed two people at a border checkpoint in Niagara Falls after finding no evidence it was a terrorist attack.
The FBI’s decision came Wednesday evening just hours after the vehicle sped through an intersection, struck a median and was launched into the air before crashing into a row of cabs and exploding near the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. The local police are now treating the case as a traffic investigation.
“An on-site investigation revealed no explosive material, and no terrorism link was identified,” the FBI’s Buffalo office said in a statement. “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, according to a news release from the city’s police department, which added, “Due to the complexity of the incident, the investigation will take some time.”
The two people killed were husband and wife, according to a person briefed on the investigation who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information about the people who were killed. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the driver was a resident of Western New York, but the identities of those in the car have not yet been released.
The crash led to the closure of the Rainbow Bridge and three other bridges connecting western New York and Ontario as federal officials swarmed the area in an attempt to figure out what led to the high-speed wreck. Both US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received briefings.
Hours later, officials sought to allay concerns about what is one of the busiest travel days of the year.
“Based on what we know at this time,” Hochul, a Democrat, said at a news conference, “there is no sign of terrorist activity in this crash.”
Hochul said the car was “basically burned” with nothing left but the engine and a scattering of charred debris, describing a video of the crash as “surreal.”
“You actually had to look at it and say, is this AI-generated?” she said at a press conference. “Because it was so surreal to see. How high in the air this vehicle went, and then the crash, and the explosion, and the fire.
Later Wednesday evening, New York Senator Chuck Schumer said investigators had found “no connection to any terrorist or criminal group. He added that there was no evidence that chemicals or substances in explosives were used during the investigation of the crime scene.
According to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory, approximately 6,000 vehicles cross the Rainbow Bridge every day. The short, steel bridge offers scenic views of the falls.
Witness Rickie Wilson, a Niagara Falls guide, was standing by his parked car nearby and turned when he saw something in the sky.
“At first I thought it was a plane. It was like slow motion,” he said. “I said, ‘My God, it’s a car. It’s a vehicle and it’s flying through the air. ”
