Nashville blast: Who and why are puzzles
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — First came the warning, then came the blast, shattering the Christmas morning silence in the heart of this city’s tourist district.
Before dawn Friday, police officers rushed to calls of gunfire on Second Avenue, a strip of honky-tonks, restaurants and boot shops.
Instead of gunfire, they found a recreational vehicle, blaring a strange and unsettling message: There was a bomb. It would detonate in 15 minutes.
When the RV did explode, it sent plumes of smoke billowing above the city, blew out windows in shops and offices for several blocks, left three people hospitalized — and Nashville shaken.
Police said the explosion was deliberate.
It also was deeply unsettling, coming in an area that draws thousands of people nightly.
But who set it off and why remained unknown as officials began to make sense of the blast.
“The whole neighborhood shook,” said Lily Hansen, who was sitting on her couch in her second-floor apartment in a loft building a few blocks away.
She looked outside and added, “I just can’t get the image out of my head.”
Police released a photo of the RV on Friday afternoon and said the vehicle had arrived on the street at 1:22 a.m.
The RV was parked outside an AT&T transmission building, a separate structure from the landmark 33-story AT&T office tower less than a half-mile away.
It’s still unclear if a person was inside the RV when it exploded, officials said.
At a news conference Friday evening, police officials said there were no indications of fatalities, but possible human tissue had been found amid the debris.
Gas lines were shut off in the area and AT&T experienced outages, which forced the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily halt flights out of the Nashville International Airport.
Mayor John Cooper said he saw extensive damage when he surveyed the area, including shattered windows and glass that had showered onto sidewalks, charred trees and water main breaks.
At least 41 businesses have been materially damaged by the explosion, he said. Fire officials added that one building across from the explosion collapsed.
Still, he acknowledged a measure of relief: Had the explosion taken place on a workday, the outcome could have been far more perilous.
But he added later in the day that solace had shifted to resolve to find the perpetrators and re
build.
“This morning’s attack on our community was intended to create chaos and fear in this season of peace and hope,” Cooper said.
The FBI field office in Memphis was taking the lead in the investigation, working with state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen was briefed on the incident early this morning and directed
that all DOJ resources be made available to assist in the investigation,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement.
Rosen became the acting attorney general Wednesday after William Barr stepped down.
Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee said in a statement on Twitter that the state would supply any needed resources to determine what had happened and who was responsible.
He said he was “praying for those who were injured” and was
thankful to the emergency workers.
“President (Donald) Trump has been briefed on the explosion in Nashville, Tenn., and will continue to receive regular updates,” said Judd Deere, a spokesman for the president. “The president is grateful for the incredible first responders and praying for those who were injured.”
Authorities said the explosion happened about 6:30 a.m. in a stretch of downtown with a Hard Rock Cafe, Hooters, Redneck Riviera Barbecue and Honky Tonk Bus Tours.
It’s an area where the tourists who come to Nashville often flock.
But on Christmas morning, it was quiet.
“It’s not a very populated area,” Cooper said.
After police officers arrived, they hurried to roust anyone they could find: The guests staying in nearby hotels. Residents just waking up in apartment buildings. People who had curled into the warmest crevices they could find as they slept on the street.
A voice announced through a speaker on the RV that a bomb would detonate, and then began a countdown interspersed with music, police said.
A bomb squad was on its way,
but it was too late. The RV exploded, exactly as the recording had warned.
Don Aaron, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, said the officers’ quick work in evacuating the area helped prevent the explosion from causing more harm.
“We think lives were saved by those officers doing just that,” he said.
On Second Avenue, just a block away from the Cumberland River, the blast left the roadway blackened with debris, including scorched trees and the hulls of vehicles destroyed by the explosion.
Firetrucks and emergency vehicles were gathered at the edge of downtown, and blue lights flashed under the Hard Rock Cafe’s large spinning guitar.
Except for a distant fire alarm and the sounds of a helicopter, downtown was quiet Friday afternoon.
The RV exploded just outside the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant in a building, like many others in the area, that was erected in the late 19th century. Windows on either end of the building were blown out, as were the large, heavy doors at the building’s entrance. The explosion also triggered the sprinkler system.