USA TODAY International Edition
Nashville bodycam video reveals chaos
Footage suggests bomber didn’t intend to survive
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Four days after an explosion ripped through a historic section of downtown, a clearer picture of the bombing and the man behind it emerged Tuesday.
The motive for the Christmas morning blast remained elusive, and authorities said it may never be determined. The actions of the man responsible for the bombing in recent days and weeks suggest he never intended to survive the event that took his life and wounded three people.
Anthony Quinn Warner, 63, gave away his car and signed a document that transferred his longtime home in a Nashville suburb to a California woman for nothing in return, The Associated Press reported, citing an official who could not discuss the matter publicly. Warner, an independent computer technician, told an employer he was retiring.
Police released footage Monday from the body camera of one of the six police officers who evacuated the area downtown. The footage captures a holiday song playing from a storefront as dire warnings blare from a parked recreational vehicle. Then comes an explosion – and chaos.
The footage begins at 6: 14 a. m., when Michael Sipos and two other officers asked someone to evacuate from outside a nearby bar. The footage skips to 6: 25 a. m. as Sipos and a female officer walked up Second Avenue and passed the RV.
“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” was drowned out by the RV’s warning to evacuate. “That’s so weird,” Sipos says in the video. “That’s like some ( expletive) out of a movie.”
Minutes later, after walking about a block away from the RV, Sipos attempted to open the trunk of his police vehicle when the explosion took place.
Over the next few minutes, Sipos ran back toward Second Avenue. The video shows the chaos immediately after the bombing, when officers ushered startled, dazed people away from the area.
Sipos, who was issued a body camera days before the incident, said that when the officers arrived, they didn’t notice the RV when they parked across from it. The RV soon began broadcasting a message that it contained a bomb – and people should evacuate the area.
David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said Warner probably did not intend to kill anyone. Rausch cited the recorded warning and 15- minute countdown coming from the RV, giving people time to evacuate before the bomb exploded on a street where there was little activity at that hour of the morning.
The explosion damaged more than 40 buildings, including the nearby AT& T facility. Warner’s father had worked for AT& T, and that connection was among possible motives drawing the attention of law enforcement. The company reported widespread outages that lasted days, raising questions about vulnerabilities in the nation’s communication infrastructure.
Some businesses on the outer edge of the destruction reopened Tuesday.
A group of Nashville Downtown Business Partnership ambassadors wore matching red jackets Monday as they pushed brooms and filled trash cans along one street. The clang of shattered glass could be heard as they swept.
David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said Warner probably did not intend to kill anyone, citing the recorded warning and 15- minute countdown coming from the RV.