UPDATE: New York City Mayor Eric Adams says law enforcement officials have determined no “nexus” between New York City and the incident at the Niagara Falls Rainbow Bridge border crossing, and that the city will make “no additional enhancements” to security measures for tomorrow’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade beyond what was already planned.
Adams made the comment during the annual press briefing about security plans for the the parade. He said officials will continue to “monitor all the chatter” that’s taking place in the lead-up to the event, but that no connection has been found between New York City and the fiery vehicle explosion upstate.
New York Police Commission Edward Caban added that increased security measures were already in place for the Thursday event, expected to draw more than 3.5 million onlookers. The city, he said, has “been on heightened alert since October 7.”
Also this afternoon, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a news conference that, “Based on what we know at this moment, and again anything can change, there is no sign of terrorist activity with respects to this crash.”
Earlier today, Adams released a statement on social media that the NYPD was “closely monitoring” the situation at the Niagara Falls Rainbow Bridge border crossing explosion that resulted in two deaths and snarled holiday travel plans through the busy Buffalo international airport.
“The NYPD and our team have been closely monitoring the situation on the ground in Buffalo after an explosion at the Rainbow Bridge,” Adams said in the statement, “and we’ve already sent NYPD officers upstate to support efforts on the ground.”
Hochul confirmed that two people, including the driver of the vehicle, were killed in the explosion. There have been conflicting reports throughout the day as to the direction the vehicle was traveling when it accelerated, struck a curb, flipped, crashed and exploded. No determination has been made as to intent, though The New York Times is reporting that the car did not contain explosives.
“The NYPD and our partners have already enhanced security, and the city is on heightened alert due to the upcoming holiday,” Adams said on social media, “so the public will see increased security at locations across New York City, including entry and egress points into and out of the city.”
The parade kicks off tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. ET and will be broadcast on NBC and stream on Peacock.
City, state and law enforcement officials have stressed in recent days that no credible security threats have been received with regard to the parade or NYC holiday travel, but concern was raised yesterday when ABC News reported that a “threat assessment” obtained by the network noted that the parade event “will provide a broad set of potential soft targets” for an attack.
At a press briefing yesterday, Hochul reiterated that while no credible threats have been received, “We’d be naive to think the war in the Middle East does not have the possibility to bleed over into other states, particularly New York, we have been targeted in the past, yet we are very prepared.”