Nashville RV blast appears deliberate, authorities say
NASHVILLE, TENN. >> First came the warning, then came the blast, shattering the Christmas morning silence in the heart of the city’s tourist district.
Before dawn Friday, Nashville 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 was also 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. “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 Second Avenue North at 1:22 a.m. The RV was parked outside an AT&T transmission building, a separate building from the landmark 33-story AT&T office tower less than half a mile away.
It is still unclear if a person was inside the RV when it exploded, officials said. In 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, he said, 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 rebuild.
“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 Trump has been briefed on the explosion in Nashville, Tennessee, and will continue to receive regular updates,” said Judd Deere, a spokesperson for the president. “The president is grateful for the incredible first responders and praying for those who were injured.”
Authorities said the explosion happened around 6:30 a.m. outside 166 Second Ave. North, in a stretch of downtown with a Hard Rock Cafe, Hooters, Redneck Riviera Barbecue and Honky Tonk Bus Tours. It is 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 a nnounced 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 spokesperson 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.
Fire trucks and emergency vehicles were gathered at the edge of downtown, and blue lights f lashed under the Hard Rock Cafe’s large spinning guitar on Broadway. 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 downtown 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, which flooded the restaurant for about eight hours.
“It’s a mess,” said Mark Rosenthal, one of the restaurant’s owners. “We have about 115 people working there, but that’s 115 people that now don’t have jobs. So that’s rough to think about.”
Freddie O’Connell, a city councilman who represents the affected area, said that dozens of people had been displaced and were brought to a triage area where they could be checked for injuries and stay warm on a bitterly cold morning. “It’s going to be a little bit of time,” he said, before they can return to their residences.
“2020 already had plenty of devastation,” O’Connell said. “It’s hard to wake up on Christmas morning and see more of it in my hometown.”