Car strapped with gas canisters rams into crowd outside New Year’s Eve concert killing two

The FBI has launched an investigation after a car containing numerous gas canisters ploughed into another vehicle and a crowd outside a New Year’s Eve concert in upstate New York, killing two and wounding several more.

Concertgoers who had just rung in the New Year were pouring out onto the crosswalk outside the Kodak Center in Rochester at around 12.50am ET when a Ford Expedition SUV crashed into a Mitsubishi Outlander, Rochester Police said at a news briefing.

The Mitsubishi – believed to be an Uber – was exiting a parking lot when the SUV collided with it, causing a fiery crash.

The two vehicles then ploughed into a group of people on the crosswalk, Rochester Police Chief David Smith said at the press conference on Monday.

Two people riding in the Mitsubishi were killed in the fiery crash, while the driver was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Three people on the crosswalk were also struck by the crashed cars, two of whom are in a non-life threatening condition while the third is battling life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the SUV is also in hospital in a life-threatening condition.

The other vehicles involved were also left destroyed in the crash

(WHAM)

The police chief added that numerous pedestrians, as well as a Rochester police officer, also came very close to being caught in the fatal collision.

Police officers had already been assigned to monitor the crowd of about 1,000 people who had seen in the New Year watching a rock band.

Two officers were assisting pedestrians at the crosswalk when the vehicles went “through” the people before crashing into two other vehicles, Chief Smith said.

The crash caused a huge blaze that took firefighters almost one hour to extinguish, Chief Smith said.

Once the fire was contained and put out, first responders at the scene found an unusual amount of gasoline canisters in and around the striking vehicle.

In total, police said there were at least a dozen gasoline canisters found lying on the street and in the vehicle.

Due to the “danger level” associated with the canisters, Chief Smith said the police department’s bomb squad and the joint arson task force responded to the scene.

The crash is now being investigated as possible terrorism, according to ABC News, citing a law enforcement source.

Gas canisters were found in and around the SUV

(WHAM)

Investigators are said to be searching through the devices and social media accounts of the driver of the Ford Expedition, as well as talking to friends and family to try to understand what happened, according to the outlet.

The driver is from Syracuse, the outlet reports, and had driven his own vehicle to Syracuse airport, where he left it and switched to the rental SUV.

Law enforcement sources told the New York Post that the driver had also rented a hotel room in Rochester, where police later recovered a suicide note and a journal.

The Independent has contacted the Rochester Police Department for further information.

The Rochester Police Department and the FBI are working together to investigate why and how the collision happened and how the canisters were involved.

Two people have been confirmed dead, while two others remain in life-threatening conditions.

(WHAM)

“As we continue to investigate and collaborate with our law enforcement partners, details are limited at this time,” the FBI wrote on X.

Footage captured by local news outlet WHAM showed the SUV completely burnt out, with all its windows missing, the trunk completely destroyed and the whole front of the vehicle in ruin.

Debris from the crash and red gas canisters were also seen littering the street outside the Kodak Centre, with the whole area cornered off by police for investigation.

Rochester Mayor Malik Evans offered his condolences to the devastated families and urged anyone with information about the incident to come forward to authorities.

“I would have been liking to stand at this podium to deliver ‘Happy New Year’ and smile and say good news, but unfortunately, today we don’t have [good] news,” Mr Evans said at the conference.

“We have several individuals whose family’s lives have changed because they will not be here to bring in 2024”

The band, moe., which was performing at the Kodak Center that night, said they were in “profound shock and sadness” after the incident.

“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of those who lost their lives, and our thoughts are with those who were injured,” they said in a statement.

The police department and the FBI are continuing to investigate the fatal crash.

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