The FBI has ended its investigation of a fiery car wreck that killed two people at a New York-Ontario border checkpoint in Niagara Falls after finding no evidence that it was a terror attack, easing a tense period of high tensions as Americans headed into the Thanksgiving holiday, but leaving the bridge closed to traffic on Thursday.
There was no indication of when the bridge would re-open on with the Canada Border Services Agency web site simply stating on its border wait times page that the checkpoint was “closed” and that the wait time for commercial traffic was “not applicable.” Other border points in the area were operating normally with no delays listed.
The FBI’s decision to end its investigation Wednesday came several hours after the vehicle raced through an intersection, hit a median and was launched through the air before slamming into a line of customs booths and exploding. Local police are now handling the case as a traffic investigation.
“A search of the scene revealed no explosive materials, and no terrorism nexus 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.”
A spokesman for the City of Niagara Falls, NY, said the investigation has been taken over by the Niagara Falls Police Department’s Crash Management Unit.
The two people who died were a husband and wife, according to a person briefed on the investigation, though the identities of those in the car were not yet been released.
The crash prompted the closure of the Rainbow Bridge and three other bridges connecting western New York and Ontario, as federal officials swarmed the area and both US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received briefings. Hours later, officials sought to calm concerns on what is one the busiest travel days of the year in the US.
Based on what we know at this moment,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a news conference, “there is no sign of terrorist activity in this crash.”
Hochul said the car was “basically incinerated” with nothing left but the engine and a scattering of charred debris.
Later Wednesday night, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said investigators had found “no connection to any terrorist or criminal group.” He added that there was no evidence of chemicals or substances used in explosives during investigators’ swabbing of the scene.
The Rainbow Bridge has about 6,000 vehicles cross it each day, according to the US Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory.
Witness Rickie Wilson, a Niagara Falls tour guide, was by his parked car nearby and turned around when he saw something in the air.
“I first thought it was an airplane. It looked like slow motion,” he said. “I said, ‘My God, it’s a car. It’s a vehicle, and it’s flying through the air.”’