Officers give harrowing account of Nashville RV bombing.
Officials say man responsible died in the blast, the motive is unclear
NASHVILLE, TENN. >> Nashville police urged nearby residents to get away as an ominous recording blared from a recreational vehicle. Suddenly the warning stopped, and Petula Clark’s 1964 hit “Dow ntow n” started playing. Then the bomb went off.
Police officers provided harrowing details Sunday of responding to the Christmas morning explosion in downtown Nashville, at times getting choked up reliving the moments that led up to the blast and offering gratitude that they were still alive.
“This is going to tie us together forever, for the rest of my life,” Officer James Wells, who suffered some hearing loss due to the explosion, told reporters at a news conference. “Christmas will never be the same.”
The man believed to be responsible for the Christmas
Day bombing blew himself up in the explosion, and appears to have acted alone, federal officials said Sunday.
Investigators used DNA and other evidence to link the man, identified as Anthony Quinn Warner, to the mysterious explosion, though officials said they still had not uncovered a motive for the bombing. Officials have received hundreds of tips and leads, but do not believe anyone else was responsible for the early morning explosion that damaged dozens of buildings, including an AT&T building that has continued to wreak havoc on cellphone service.
Police earlier in the day had revealed that Warner, 63, was under investigation. He had experience with electronics and alarms, according to public records, and had worked as a computer consultant for a Nashville realtor.
The five responding officers gave their accounts of what happened Friday as
investigators continued to chip away at the motive of the RV bombing on a mostly deserted street just after it issued the recorded warning advising people to evacuate.
“I just see orange and then I hear a loud boom. As I’m stumbling around, I just tell myself to stay on my feet and to stay alive,” Wells said, at times tearing up.
Officer Amanda Topping said she initially parked their police car beside the RV while responding to the
call before moving it once they heard the recording. Topping said she called her wife to let her know that “things were just really strange” as she helped guide people away from the RV.
That’s when she heard the announcement from the RV switch from a warning to playing Clark’s hit, “Dow ntow n.” Moments later the explosion struck.
“I felt the waves of heat but I kind of just lost it and started sprinting toward ( Wells),” Topping said. “I’ve never grabbed someone so hard in my life.”
Officer Brenna Hosey said she and her colleagues knocked on six or seven doors in nearby apartments to warn people to evacuate. She particularly remembered a startled mother of four children.
“I don’t have kids but I have cousins and nieces, people who I love who are small,” Hosey said, adding she had to plead with the family to leave the building as quickly as possible.
The attack, which damaged an AT&T building, has continued to wreak havoc on cellphone service and police and hospital communications in several Southern states as the company worked to restore service.
On Saturday, investigators from multiple federal and local law enforcement agencies descended on a home in Antioch, in suburban Nashville, after receiving information relevant to the investigation, said FBI Special Agent Jason Pack.
Another law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, said investigators regard someone associated with the property as a person of interest. They did not identify the person.
Federal agents could be seen looking around the property, searching the home and the backyard. A Google Maps image captured in May 2019 had shown a recreational vehicle similar to the one that exploded parked in the backyard. It was not at the property on Saturday, according to an AP reporter at the scene.
Meanwhile, Nashville realtor, Steve Fridrich, told the AP in a statement that Warner had worked for his company as a computer consultant, and informed it that he was retiring earlier this month. The company has notified authorities of the past IT work, Fridrich said.
There were other signs of progress in the investigation,. The FBI said Saturday it was looking at a number of individuals who may be connected to it. Officials also said no additional explosive devices have been found — indicating no active threat to the area.