Explosion Closes Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls Border Crossing — FBI On Scene

Isaac SchorrNov 22nd, 2023, 1:56 pm
 

An explosion at the United States-Canada border crossing at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls Wednesday has the FBI investigating and caused authorities to close all of the legal border crossing stations between the U.S. and Canada in Western New York.

On Wednesday night, CNN reported the driver was a 56-year-old man who was driving with his wife to a Kiss concert in the area in what appears to be a “terrible accident.”

Earlier in the day, New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) said that she was “been briefed on the incident on the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls” and was “closely monitoring the situation.” The FBI, meanwhile, released a statement acknowledging that the “Buffalo Field Office iss investigating a vehicle explosion at the Rainbow Bridge, a border crossing between the U.S. and Canada in Niagara Falls. The FBI is coordinating with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners in this investigation.”

Fox News had reported that “high level police sources” told the outlet that the explosion was caused by an “attempted terrorist attack,” but has since retracted that claim. Sources told Reuters, meanwhile, that the explosion was likely caused by a “reckless driver.  Both of the individuals riding in the vehicle are reportedly dead, and at least one agent at the border has been injured.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon said that he wouldn’t “speculate” on the incident without “reliable verified information,” but also acknowledged that “anytime a piece of infrastructure as important to Canada and the United States like a border crossing sees this kind of violent circumstance, it’s a source of concern for the government of Canada and for the United States. Watch LeBlanc’s press conference directly above via CNN.

The incident follows an intelligence report from New York State earlier this week that asserted that there was an elevated threat of a terrorist attack as a result of the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel.

Watch the aftermath of the explosion at the border above via MSNBC.

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