Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
I’ll never be forgotten, suspect told neighbor
Motive still sought in Nashville blast
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The man authorities believe was responsible for setting off a Christmas Day bomb that injured three people and damaged dozens of buildings in downtown Nashville told a neighbor days before the explosion that “Nashville and the world is never going to forget me.”
Rick Laude said he saw Anthony Quinn Warner standing at his mailbox on Dec. 21 and pulled over in his car to speak with him. After asking how Warner’s elderly mother was doing, Laude said he casually asked him, “Is Santa going to bring you anything good for Christmas?” Laude said Warner smiled and then said, “Oh, yeah, Nashville and the world is never going to forget me.”
Laude, 57, a commercial truck driver, said he didn’t think much of the remark and thought Warner only meant that “something good” was going to happen for him. He said he was “speechless” later when he read that authorities had identified Warner as the suspected bomber.
“Nothing about this guy
raised any red flags,” Laude said. “He was just quiet.”
Laude said Warner sometimes did not respond when he and other neighbors waved to him, but said he did not take it personally. “I knew that he was just a recluse,” he said.
Warner left behind clues that suggest he planned the bombing and intended to kill himself, but a clear motive remains elusive.
“We hope to get an answer. Sometimes, it’s just not possible,” David Rausch, the director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said Monday in an interview on NBC’s “Today” show. “The best way to find motive is to talk to the individual. We will not be able to do that in this case.”
“It does appear that the intent was more destruction than death, but again that’s all still speculation at this point as we continue in our investigation with all our partners,” Rausch added.
Investigators are analyzing Warner’s belongings collected during the investigation, including a computer and a portable storage drive, and continue to interview witnesses as they try to identify a motive for the explosion, a law enforcement official said. A review of his financial transactions also uncovered purchases of potential bomb-making components, the official said.
Warner had recently given away a vehicle and told the person he gave it to that he had been diagnosed with cancer, though it is unclear whether he indeed had cancer, the official said. Investigators used some items collected from the vehicle, including a hat and gloves, to match Warner’s DNA and DNA was taken from one of his family members, the official said.
The official could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Warner also apparently gave away his home in Antioch, a Nashville suburb, to a Los Angeles woman a month before the bombing. A property record dated Nov. 25 indicates Warner transferred the home to the woman in exchange for no money after living there for decades. The woman’s signature is not on that document.
Warner had worked as a computer consultant for Nashville real estate agent Steve Fridrich, who told the AP in a text message that Warner had said he was retiring earlier this month.
Before the Christmas Day explosion, Warner had not been on law enforcement’s radar, Rausch said. The one arrest in his criminal record was for marijuana possession in 1978, when he was 21 years old.
And this meant that tips from members of the public were “absolutely key” in identifying Warner as the suspect, Rausch said. From there, investigators were able to find images on Google Earth that showed an RV in his driveway, which led them to his home and to eventually comparing DNA from a hat and a pair of gloves that belonged to him.
“We are very proud of the work that we’ve done by our team to make that match so quickly,” Rausch said.
UNKNOWNS
Officials have not provided insight into why Warner selected the particular location for the bombing, which damaged an AT&T building and wreaked havoc on cellphone service and police and hospital communications in several Southern states. By Monday, the company said the majority of services had been restored for residents and businesses.
Forensic analysts were reviewing evidence from the blast site to try to identify the components of the explosives as well as information from the U.S. Bomb Data Center for intelligence and investigative leads, according to a law enforcement official who said investigators were examining Warner’s digital footprint and financial history.
The official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, said federal agents were examining a number of potential leads and pursuing several theories, including the possibility that the AT&T building was targeted.
Doug Korneski, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Memphis field office, said Sunday that officials were looking at any and all motives and were interviewing acquaintances of Warner’s to try to determine what may have motivated him.
The bombing took place early on a holiday morning well before downtown streets were bustling with activity. Police were responding to a report of shots fired when they encountered the RV blaring a recorded warning that a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes. Then, for reasons that may never be known, the audio switched to a recording of Petula Clark’s 1964 hit “Downtown” shortly before the blast.
In addition to the DNA found at the blast site, investigators from the Tennessee Highway Patrol were able to link the vehicle identification number recovered from the wreckage to an RV registered to Warner, officials said.
“We’re still following leads, but right now there is no indication that any other persons were involved,” Korneski said. “We’ve reviewed hours of security video surrounding the recreation vehicle. We saw no other people involved.”
President-elect Joe Biden on Monday called the bombing “a reminder of the destructive power an individual or a small group can muster and the need for continued vigilance across the board.”
President Donald Trump hasn’t publicly commented on the explosion but has spoken to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and offered resources and support, according to the governor’s office.
NOT TERRORISM
From the beginning, officials have grappled with whether to call the explosion an act of terrorism. On Friday, in the hours after the blast, aides to Mayor John Cooper consulted with the city’s legal director, Robert Cooper, a former state attorney general, about whether to use the term before determining that the blast had not met the legal definition, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
Ed Yarborough, a former U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, agreed with the assessment.
“Terrorism as we define it in the modern age involves the killing of innocent citizens to put fear into the general population for political purposes or religious or whatever,” said Yarborough, who is now in private practice in Nashville. “The guy obviously went out of his way to try to avoid the killing of innocent people, so that’s the opposite of what a terrorist typically does.”
By late Monday morning, some sense of normalcy had returned to downtown. The area that had been blocked off by investigators was narrowed, and light traffic and tourists returned to nearby streets, an encouraging sign for business already hurting because of the coronavirus pandemic.
About 60 patrons had already streamed into Honky Tonk Central, where a cover of “There’s Your Trouble” by The Chicks competed with the noise of construction trucks rumbling down the street.
“People are ready to get out of their hotel room,” the bar’s manager, Jay Emery said. “We opened at 11, and a quarter after 11 the entire first floor is full.”
And a family of eight from Jacksonville and Melbourne, Fla., said the explosion would not hamper their vacation, other than they might need to change lunch reservations. They still planned to visit the Johnny Cash Museum and Gaylord Opryland Resort.
“This was not going to stop us,” said Shirley Turner of Jacksonville.
Warner left behind clues that suggest he planned the bombing and intended to kill himself, but a clear motive remains elusive.
Information for this article was contributed by Kimberlee Kruesi, Denise Lavoie, Michael Balsamo, Scott Stroud, Mark Humphrey, Michael Kunzelman, Eric Tucker and Alexandra Jaffe of The Associated Press; and by Jamie McGee and Lucy Tompkins of The New York Times.