New York mayor says no additional security measures needed for Thanksgiving parade after Rainbow Bridge vehicle explosion – update

UPDATED with more details: New York City Mayor Eric Adams says law enforcement has found no “connection” between New York City and the incident at the Niagara Falls Rainbow Bridge border crossing and that the city will not make “additional improvements” to security measures at Macy’s. beyond what was already planned.

Adams made the comment during the annual press conference on parade safety plans. He said officials continue to monitor “all conversations” leading up to the event, but that no connection has been found between New York City and the fire truck explosion in the state.

Edward Caban of the New York Police Department added that heightened security measures were already in place for Thursday’s event, which is expected to attract more than 3.5 million spectators. The city has been “on heightened alert” since October 7, he said.

Also this afternoon, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said at a press conference: “Based on what we know at this point, and again, this is subject to change, there is no evidence of terrorist activity related to this crash not related.”

Adams released a statement on social media today saying the NYPD is “closely monitoring” the situation at the Niagara Falls Rainbow Bridge border crossing, which has resulted in two deaths and disrupted leisure travel plans through the busy Buffalo International Airport.

“The NYPD and our team have been closely monitoring the situation on the ground in Buffalo following an explosion at Rainbow Bridge,” Adams said in the statement, “and we have already deployed NYPD officers north to support efforts on the ground. “

Hochul confirmed that two people, including the driver of the vehicle, were killed in the blast. There were conflicting reports throughout the day about which direction the vehicle was traveling when it accelerated, hit a curb, rolled over, crashed and exploded. However, no statement has yet been made about the intention The New York Times reported that the car did not contain any explosives.

“The NYPD and our partners have already increased security measures and the city is on heightened alert due to the upcoming holidays,” Adams said on social media, “so the public will see increased security measures at locations throughout New York City, including — and out.” .Points inside and outside the city.”

The parade begins tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. ET and will be broadcast on NBC and streamed on Peacock.

City, state and law enforcement officials have stressed in recent days that there were no credible security threats related to the parade or holiday travel to New York. However, concerns were raised yesterday when ABC News reported that a “threat assessment” obtained by the broadcaster found that the parade event would provide “a wide range of potential soft targets” for attack.

At a press conference yesterday, Hochul reiterated that while there were no credible threats, “it would be naive to believe that the war in the Middle East does not have the potential to spread to other states, especially New York.” “We have focused on this in the past, but we are still very well prepared.”