Fiery crash kills 2 in upstate New York

By Seda Sevencan

ISTANBUL (AA) — A devastating crash outside an entertainment venue in upstate New York early New Year's day left at least two people dead and five others injured.

City's police chief David Smith said the incident occurred around 12:50 a.m. when a Ford Expedition collided with a Mitsubishi Outlander that was exiting a parking lot near the Kodak Center in Rochester.

"The force of the collision caused the two vehicles to go through a group of pedestrians that were in the crosswalk, and then into two other vehicles," Smith told a press conference.

"There was a large fire associated with the crash that took the Rochester Fire Department almost one hour to extinguish."

The investigation into the crash is being spearheaded by the Joint Terrorism Task Force, a law enforcement source briefed on the case told ABC News.

While authorities have not conclusively labeled the incident as an act of terrorism, they are treating it as such until they can determine what happened and why, the source said.