DNA found at Nashville scene
Suspect, who died in blast, was IT technician
Authorities named Anthony Q. Warner, 63, as the likely bomber responsible for the Christmas morning explosion in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, and his DNA was found amid the charred blast site. A motive remains unclear. The city’s mayor, meanwhile, indicated the blast “feels like” it had a connection to the AT&T facility that suffered extensive damage.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – U.S. Attorney Donald Cochran identified Anthony Q. Warner on Sunday as the “bomber” in a Christmas Day explosion that rocked downtown.
Police Chief John Drake had identified Warner, 63, as a person of interest in the case. He is believed to have died in the explosion.
DNA found at the scene was matched to samples taken at another location searched by investigators, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch confirmed.
Investigators said they do not believe there was anyone else involved.
“Anthony Warner is the bomber. He was present when the bomb went off, and he perished in the bombing,” Cochran said.
Sunday, police officers who responded to a report of shots fired moments before the blast recalled the chaos when a recreational vehicle blew up on Second Avenue, injuring three people and damaging more than 40 businesses.
Officer James Wells, who suffered some hearing loss, tearfully said at a news conference that he believed he heard God tell him to walk away moments before he saw a flash of orange and heard a loud boom.
“As I’m stumbling around, I just tell myself to stay on my feet and to stay alive,” Wells said. “Christmas will never be the same.”
The explosion was a deliberate bombing and “feels like” it had a connection to the AT&T building severely damaged in the blast, Mayor John Cooper said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Cooper cited “a lot of momentum behind the investigation” and said he expects “a lot of questions to be answered relatively soon.” No motive for the attack had been determined.
FBI agents searched a home in Antioch and visited a real estate office in Nashville in connection with the bombing.
Neighbors told The Tennessean that an RV similar to the one in the explosion was parked at the home within the past two weeks.
FBI Special Agent Jason Pack said agents visited Fridrich & Clark Realty’s Green Hills office. Owner Steve Fridrich said the company told the FBI that Warner had worked for the company.
Warner was a longtime area resident who held several IT jobs, including one as an independent computer technician with Fridrich & Clark, and public records show he had extensive experience with electronics and alarm systems.
Warner had been embroiled in legal battles over real estate with family members.
Steve Schmoldt and his wife lived next to Warner for more than two decades. Schmoldt described his neighbor as friendly. They never discussed politics or religion, and Warner never gave any indication of any closely held ideology, Schmoldt said.
“I can tell you as far as politics, he never had any yard signs or flags in his window or anything like that,” Schmoldt said.
Nashville police responded to a report of shots fired before 6 a.m. Friday, discovering a suspicious RV parked outside the AT&T building. Officers and witnesses heard a broadcast coming from the RV giving a dire warning: “Evacuate now. There is a bomb. A bomb is in this vehicle and will explode.”
Officer James Luellen said he heard a song playing from the RV. An agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives identified the tune as “Downtown” by Petula Clark, a charttopping megahit in 1965.
Damage to the AT&T building was so severe that police emergency systems in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama remained out of service.
AT&T said the outage continued to affect 911 operations and residential service Sunday, though the company said coverage was improving.