Chicago Tribune (Sunday)

Pal recalls bomber’s quirks, clues

Man consumed by conspiracy theories took his own life

- By Steve Cavendish, Neil Macfarquha­r and Jamie Mcgee Warner was the only person killed.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Crystal Deck was opening presents on Christmas morning at her brother’s home when she heard the news that an enormous explosion had ripped through the historic heart of Nashville.

She knew instantly that the bomber was her dearest friend, Anthony Warner, and quickly began fitting together clues that he had dropped, including a series of peculiar episodes she had dismissed as inconseque­ntial, but which proved to be central to his suicidal plot.

Deck had, weeks earlier, found him fiddling with a prerecorde­d female voice on his laptop. And he had played her the 1964 Petula Clark hit “Downtown,” praising the song’s “significan­t spirit.” Both became eerie elements of the bombing.

Warner had even cautioned her that he was hatching something that would bring the police to her door, yet until that moment she had not understood the magnitude of his plan.

Though Warner’s motive remains shrouded, false informatio­n and outlandish tales had poisoned his mind, apparently driving him to spectacula­r violence. This mindset has become alarmingly familiar to law enforcemen­t officials now reckoning with the destructiv­e force of conspiracy theories that mutate endlessly online and played a role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Warner, who was 63 when he died, was not among the angry QAnon followers who came to believe the unlikely theory that former President Donald Trump would

hold onto power and defeat a satanic cabal. He was a computer specialist with a deep distrust of government, according to his own writings and to those who knew him. A loner, he had made at least one female friend feel manipulate­d and frightened. And he had cultivated a bizarre obsession with shape-shifting alien lizards and a dense thicket of other peculiar ideas.

As Warner’s best friend in his final months, Deck believes that some combinatio­n of a fatal cancer diagnosis salted with a belief in conspiracy theories led Warner to kill himself in such a brutally spectacula­r manner.

“He was trying to escape,” said Deck, who is not considered a suspect. “He talked about going out on his own terms.”

Warner, authoritie­s said, drove his booby-trapped white recreation­al vehicle to Second Avenue North in the

predawn hours. The detonation damaged some 50 buildings, collapsing a few and shearing the antique brick facades off others that will require years and tens of millions of dollars to restore. Two months later, the blast area remains a confused, desolate patchwork of boarded-up buildings, chain-link fencing and uneven reconstruc­tion efforts.

The explosion, in front of an AT&T hub, crippled cellular, internet and cable service across several states for two days and underscore­d the vulnerabil­ity of such common yet unprotecte­d facilities.

The FBI and other federal and local law enforcemen­t agencies investigat­ing the bombing have not made any findings public, although officials said they expect a report by early March.

Whatever else might have been on Warner’s mind in the period leading up to his

death, he had been fixated for years on the notion that alien reptiles who inhabited undergroun­d tunnels controlled the Earth, a fantasy spread by a notorious British serial conspiracy theorist. The giant lizards, Warner said, appeared among us as humans.

By the summer of 2019, he was making a friend, Pamela Perry, increasing­ly anxious, according to Raymond Throckmort­on III, a Nashville lawyer who had represente­d both Perry and Warner on various matters.

“Pam Perry had had numerous contacts with me where she was just emotionall­y distraught and had been just really whipped into a frenzy of emotion by apparently crazy things or threatenin­g or unusual things that Tony had said to her,” Throckmort­on said. “I think he just sensed that she was at a weak point in her life and it was somebody he could dominate, manipulate

or control.”

In August 2019, Perry told police that she believed Warner was building bombs in the RV parked outside his house on Bakertown Lane, and Throckmort­on told the police that Warner was capable of building explosives. Officers went to his home but neither the Nashville police nor the FBI pursued an investigat­ion. A police and municipal review committee is now scrutinizi­ng why.

Perry, through lawyers, declined to comment.

Deck, 44, first met Warner several months later, when he came into the South Nashville Waffle House where she worked. “The first time I met him, I just thought his cornbread wasn’t really done in the middle and he was off a little bit,” she said.

Now, in retrospect, Deck dredges her memory for clues of what was to come.

By the time she met him,

Warner was clearly preparing for a transition. He had largely emptied his house, save for an air mattress and a computer in the living room.

He hinted that he had been told he had cancer, but she did not pry.

In early December, he sent a letter to his IT clients, telling them that he was retiring. He deeded his house to the daughter of a former girlfriend. Deck saw him last on Dec. 17, when he showed up at the Waffle House to give her his car, a white 2007 Pontiac Vibe, along with the jacket and gloves he used to wear when he walked her dog.

He implied that he had little time left.

On Christmas morning in downtown Nashville, several residents who were awakened around 4:30 a.m. by what sounded like loud, rapid bursts of gunfire phoned the police. The officers who responded found no indication of shots fired, and Deck said that Warner used gunfire noises as a ring tone on his cellphone.

He apparently used the sound that morning to attract attention, because a computeriz­ed, female voice — the voice Deck had heard him manipulati­ng weeks earlier — soon began emanating from the vehicle, saying, “Stay clear of this vehicle, evacuate now. Do not approach this vehicle!” The police evacuated as many residents as they could.

The voice, more insistent, announced that the vehicle would detonate. It began a 15-minute countdown, interspers­ed with continued warnings to evacuate as well as snippets from the song “Downtown.”

“When you’re alone and life is making you lonely, you can always go downtown.”

At 6:30 a.m., surveillan­ce video showed, a giant fireball erupted around the RV and the resulting concussion rocked the neighborho­od.

WASHINGTON — Federal investigat­ors probing the death of a U.S. Capitol Police officer killed in the Jan. 6 riot have zeroed in on a suspect seen on video appearing to spray a chemical substance on the officer before he later collapsed and died, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

The FBI has obtained video that shows the person spraying Brian Sicknick and other law enforcemen­t officers during the Jan. 6 riot, the people said. But they cautioned that federal agents haven’t yet identified the suspect by name and the act hasn’t been directly tied to Sicknick’s death.

The idea that Sicknick died after being sprayed by a chemical irritant has emerged in recent weeks as a new theory in the case.

Investigat­ors initially believed that Sicknick was hit in the head with a fire extinguish­er, based on statements collected early in the investigat­ion, according to one of the people and another law enforcemen­t official briefed on the case.

But as they’ve collected more evidence, the theory of the case has evolved and investigat­ors now believe Sicknick may have ingested a chemical substance — possibly bear spray — during the riot that may have contribute­d to his death, the officials said.

The people could not publicly discuss the details of an ongoing investigat­ion and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Sicknick died after defending the Capitol against the mob that stormed the building as Congress was voting to certify Joe Biden’s electoral win over Donald Trump.

More accusation­s against

Cuomo: A second former aide has come forward with sexual harassment allegation­s against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who responded with a statement Saturday saying he never made advances toward her and never intended to be inappropri­ate.

Charlotte Bennett, a health policy adviser in the Democratic governor’s administra­tion until November, told The New York Times that Cuomo asked her inappropri­ate questions about her sex life, including whether she had ever had sex with older men.

Another former aide, Lindsey Boylan, a former deputy secretary for economic developmen­t and special adviser to the governor, recently accused Cuomo of subjecting her to an unwanted kiss and inappropri­ate comments. Cuomo denied the allegation­s.

“I never made advances toward Ms. Bennett nor did I ever intend to act in any way that was inappropri­ate,” Cuomo’s statement said.

Cuomo, however, said he had authorized an outside review of Bennett’s allegation­s.

Saudi Arabia says missile intercepte­d: Saudi Arabia said Saturday it intercepte­d a missile attack over its capital and bomb-laden drones targeting a southern province, the latest in a series of airborne assaults it has blamed on Yemen’s rebel Houthis.

The Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen’s yearslong war announced the Iran-allied Houthis had launched a ballistic missile toward Riyadh and three booby-trapped drones toward the province of Jizan, with a fourth toward another southweste­rn city and other drones being monitored. No

casualties or damages were initially reported. There was no immediate comment from the Houthis.

The attack comes amid sharply rising tensions in the Middle East, a day after a mysterious explosion struck an Israeli-owned ship in the Gulf of Oman. That blast renewed concerns about ship security in the strategic waterways that saw a spate of suspected Iranian attacks on oil tankers in 2019.

Myanmar fires envoy: Myanmar’s month-old military regime fired the country’s ambassador to the United Nations on Saturday, a day after he gave an impassione­d speech to the U.N. General Assembly in Geneva, pleading for internatio­nal help in restoring democracy to his homeland.

State television announced the firing of Kyaw Moe Tun, saying he had “betrayed the country and spoken for an unofficial organizati­on which doesn’t represent the country and

had abused the power and responsibi­lities of an ambassador.”

Kyaw Moe Tun’s speech buoyed Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement, which has held protests every day since Feb. 1, when the military took control of the country in a coup.

Death row inmates may get reprieve: As many as 10 death row inmates in Oklahoma, more than one-fifth of the state’s prisoners condemned to die, could escape execution because of a Supreme Court ruling concerning criminal jurisdicti­on in Indian Country.

The inmates have challenged their conviction­s in state court following the high court’s ruling last year, dubbed the McGirt decision, that determined a large swath of eastern Oklahoma remains an American Indian reservatio­n.

The decision means that Oklahoma prosecutor­s lack the authority to pursue criminal charges in cases in

which the defendants, or the victims, are tribal citizens.

EU summons envoy over Cuba letter: The European Union has summoned its ambassador to Cuba to return to Brussels to explain himself after he reportedly signed an appeal asking U.S. President Joe Biden to lift sanctions against Cuba and begin normalizin­g ties with the country.

A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Saturday that the ambassador, Alberto Navarro, was asked “to come to Brussels to provide explanatio­ns.”

He was also instructed “to provide a note detailing the matter,” said the spokesman, Peter Stano.

Stano did not answer a question on whether Navarro will be fired.

The ambassador’s summons to Brussels was first reported by Politico.

Doctor in video court while performing surgery: The

Medical Board of California said it would investigat­e a plastic surgeon who appeared in a videoconfe­rence for his traffic violation trial while operating.

The Sacramento Bee reports Dr. Scott Green appeared Thursday for his Sacramento Superior Court trial, held virtually because of the coronaviru­s pandemic, from an operating room. He was dressed in surgical scrubs with a patient undergoing the procedure just out of view.

The clerk reminded Green the proceeding­s were being livestream­ed because traffic trials are required by law to be open to the public, and Green said he understood.

He appeared to continue working with his head down while waiting for Court Commission­er Gary Link to enter the chamber.

When Link appeared, the judge hesitated to proceed with the trial out of concern for the welfare of the patient.

The board said it would look into the incident.

 ?? METRO NASHVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT ?? An image released by the Metro Nashville Police Department shows Anthony Warner driving an RV on Christmas morning before he parked the vehicle and detonated the explosives inside, killing himself.
METRO NASHVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT An image released by the Metro Nashville Police Department shows Anthony Warner driving an RV on Christmas morning before he parked the vehicle and detonated the explosives inside, killing himself.
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 ?? PARCO ARCHEOLOGI­CO DI POMPEI ?? Chariot found: A chariot, with its iron elements, bronze decoration­s and mineralize­d wooden remains, was found in Civita Giuliana, Italy, north of Pompeii. Officials on Saturday at the archaeolog­ical site near Naples announced the first discovery of an intact chariot, one of several discoverie­s made following an investigat­ion into an illegal dig.
PARCO ARCHEOLOGI­CO DI POMPEI Chariot found: A chariot, with its iron elements, bronze decoration­s and mineralize­d wooden remains, was found in Civita Giuliana, Italy, north of Pompeii. Officials on Saturday at the archaeolog­ical site near Naples announced the first discovery of an intact chariot, one of several discoverie­s made following an investigat­ion into an illegal dig.

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