New footage has emerged of the RV explosion in Nashville Tennessee. Officials are now saying that the suspect died in the blast in an apparent suicide bombing. Nobody else was killed. What was his motive? Conspiracy theories are going viral online.
Nashville explosion ruled a suicide bombing
The man believed to be responsible for the Christmas Day bombing that tore through downtown Nashville 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 but said they have not determined a motive.
Officials have received hundreds of tips and leads, but have concluded that no one other than Warner is believed to have been involved in the early morning explosion that damaged dozens of buildings and injured three people.
“Nashville is considered safe,” said Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake. “There are no known threats against this city.”
Investigators have not uncovered a singular motive for the explosion nor was it revealed why Warner had selected the particular location for the bombing, which damaged an AT&T building and has continued to wreak havoc on cellphone service and police and hospital communications in several Southern states as the company worked to restore service.
This is video of Friday morning's explosion recorded by an MNPD camera at 2nd Ave N & Commerce St. pic.twitter.com/3vaXhoUOAR
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) December 28, 2020
Nashville RV bomber identified as Anthony Quinn Warner
Authorities said Warner, 63, was not known to law enforcement before the Christmas blast. Warner, who public records show had experience with electronics and alarms and who had also worked as a computer consultant for a Nashville realtor, had been regarded as a person of interest in the bombing since at least Saturday when federal and local investigators converged on a home in suburban Nashville linked to him.
A Google Maps image captured in May 2019 had shown a recreational vehicle similar to the one that exploded parked in the backyard, but it was not at the property on Saturday, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. Detectives were able to link human remains to the suspect as well as recovered parts from the RV among the wreckage from the blast.
ATT building targeted in Nashville RV bomb
“We’re still following leads, but right now there is no indication that any other persons were involved,” said Douglas Korneski, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Memphis field office. “We’ve reviewed hours of security video surrounding the recreational vehicle. We saw no other people involved.”
Police were responding to a report of shots fired Friday when they encountered the RV blaring a recorded warning that a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes. The RV exploded shortly afterward, sending black smoke and flames billowing from the heart of downtown Nashville’s tourist scene, an area packed with honky-tonks, restaurants and shops. Federal agents are examining a number of potential motives, including the possibility that the AT&T building was targeted in the explosion.
