Police suspect attack behind accident in Rochester
There is a crash in the US city of Rochester on New Year's morning. Two people die and five are injured in a serious accident involving two cars. It takes the fire department an hour to extinguish the flames. Afterwards, investigators make a discovery that casts doubt on a random accident.
A fatal accident in the US city of Rochester on New Year's morning has led to further investigations. According to the police, at least a dozen petrol cans were found in one of the two vehicles involved in the accident after the fire was extinguished.
At around 1 a.m. on New Year's morning, two vehicles crashed into each other in the US city of Rochester near the Kodak Center in the state of New York. Two people were killed and five were injured. The accident caused a fire, as a result of which one of the two vehicles burned out completely. It took the fire department around an hour to get the fire under control. Shortly before the accident, a concert at the Kodak Center, which had been attended by around 1000 people, came to an end.
"The force of the collision caused the two vehicles to drive through a group of pedestrians in the crosswalk and then into two other vehicles," Smith said at a press conference on Monday.
According to what police have learned so far, one vehicle was leaving the parking lot when another vehicle collided with it. The crash damaged other cars and injured pedestrians who were crossing a crosswalk. The two occupants of the vehicle that was hit died at the scene, while the driver, who presumably caused the accident, suffered life-threatening injuries. According to USA Today, the life of a passer-by is also in danger.
Bomb squad arrives on the scene
"After the fire was extinguished, rescue workers found at least a dozen cans of gasoline in and around the vehicle that had been hit. Due to the hazardous nature of these canisters, the Rochester Police Department Bomb Squad and the Joint Arson Task Force were called to the scene," Smith said.
Investigators are currently scouring social media accounts of the person suspected of causing the accident and interviewing friends and relatives, ABC News reports. They are hoping to find information that could explain why there were so many gas cans in the vehicle. The driver was from Syracuse and, according to previous findings, drove his private vehicle to Syracuse Airport, where he rented the SUV he is believed to have used to cause the accident, law enforcement officials confirmed to ABC News.
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Following the investigation, it was revealed that the incident in Rochester, USA, wasn't an ordinary traffic accident. In fact, it was an international case, as the driver involved in the accident had rented the vehicle in Syracuse, and authorities are now looking into potential links between the accident and other incidents in different parts of the USA.
In light of these findings, local police and international authorities are now treating this as a potential series of coordinated attacks involving traffic accidents, with the US city of New York being one of the potential targets.
Source: www.ntv.de
