Massachusetts

Massachusetts Police on High Alert After NYC Incident

Police in Massachusetts say they are on high alert after a truck driver intentionally drove into a crowd in New York City on Tuesday, killing eight people and injuring a dozen others.

Massachusetts State Police said their Homeland Security Division is "monitoring developments" out of New York and will receive updates from the FBI through its Fusion Center.

"At this point in the investigation, intelligence has not indicated any connection to Massachusetts from today's attack," state police said.

Gov. Charlie Baker said there are "no credible threats" to Massachusetts, but his administration is in constant communication with the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Commonwealth Fusion Center and other law enforcement.

Boston Police said they are in close contact with its local and federal law enforcement partners in New York. While there is no known local threat, they are reminding officers to be "extra vigilant" as they go about their patrols.

"With Halloween upon us, we are also reminding parents and neighbors to be aware of their surroundings and if you see something, say something," they said.

Salem Police, who are expecting 50,000 to 75,000 Halloween revelers, said they had prepared for similar incidents given recent terror attacks in France and London. They said they will have vehicles blocking some intersections and gates blocking others.

"What happened in New York City isn't unlike what happened in France last year," Salem Police Capt. Conrad Prosniewski said. "Because of what happened in France, we've barricaded our streets with vehicles, hopefully preventing someone from doing what happened in France and now, tragically, what happened in New York."

He said there will be 200 uniformed police in the downtown area, as well as a large contingency of undercover officers.

"What's been happening shouldn't discourage anyone from coming in and having a good time," Prosniewski said. "Nothing should interrupt our way of life. We want to be able to provide a safe atmosphere for people to do that."

"It's a nice day, the vendors are all expecting big crowds," he added. "I hope people do come down and have a good time. It looks like it's gearing up to be a pretty big night."

More than a dozen people were hit when the driver of a Home Depot rental truck zoomed at least 10 blocks down a popular bike path from West Houston to Chambers streets in Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon.

The man crashed into a school bus carrying three children during the rampage, and police say that he'd deliberately targeted that bus. Witnesses told police they saw the driver swerve the truck toward the school bus. They said the driver screamed "Allah akbar" in the truck, then emerged carrying two fake guns - either BB or paint guns - and started running around before he was finally shot by police.

A U.S. counterterrorism official told NBC News that the intelligence community is unaware of any claims of responsibility in the attack at this time.

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