A year ago today the world was watching events unfolding in Niagara Falls. A fiery crash at the Rainbow Bridge’s U.S.
border plaza on Nov. 22, 2023, quickly stoked fears of a sinister plot as law enforcement shut down the international span and other local border crossings. With a heightened sense of tension in the world, news of the bridge’s shutdown quickly traveled across the globe.
“The world is watching what happened here,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said later that day after she traveled to the Falls for a press conference. “At a time when there is such high anxiety stress levels are high and we’ve been on heightened alert since Oct.
7, that’s why it’s so important for me to stand here and tell the world that based on what we know at this moment, and again, anything can change, there is no sign of terrorist activity with respect to this crash.” In the end, it was determined that what had first been reported as a possible terrorist attack was actually a horrific car crash. The criminal investigation into an explosive accident was closed in July when the Niagara Falls Police Department’s Crash Management Unit’s (CMU) probe of the fatal crash ended without a determination of what caused the accident.
Those sources said the investigation of the crash could be reopened “if new evidence becomes available.” The crash victim’s were identified as Kurt P. Villani and Monica Villani, both 53, of Grand Island.
The Villani family are the owner’s Gui’s Lumber a.