NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) – Now that federal officials have identified the man believed to be behind the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville, authorities are now turning to the monumental task of piecing together the motive behind the explosion that seriously hurts dozens of downtown buildings. damaged and injured three people. .
While officials on Sunday named Anthony Quinn Warner, 63, as the man behind the mysterious explosion in which he was killed, the motive has remained elusive.
“We hope to get an answer. Sometimes it just isn’t possible, ”said David Rausch, the director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in a Monday interview on TODAY. “The best way to find a motive is to talk to the individual. In this case we cannot do that. “
In just a few days, hundreds of tips and leads have been submitted to law enforcement agencies. So far, however, officials have not provided information on what may have prompted Warner to trigger the explosion. According to officials, he hadn’t been on the radar before Christmas. A TBI archive report released Monday showed that Warner’s only arrest was for a 1978 marijuana-related charge.
“It seems the intent was more destruction than death, but again, that’s all still speculation on this point as we continue our research with all of our partners,” Rausch added.
Additionally, officials have provided no insight into why Warner chose the specific site for the bombing, which damaged an AT&T building and went on to wreak havoc on cell phone service and police and hospital communications in several southern states while it company was working to restore the service.
Forensic analysts examined evidence gathered from the explosives site to try to identify the components of the explosives, as well as information from the US Bomb Data Center for intelligence and investigative leaders, according to a law enforcement official who said investigators explored Warner’s digital footprint and financial history. as well as a recent transfer of a suburban Nashville home that they searched.
The official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke with the AP on the condition of anonymity, said federal agents were investigating a number of potential leads and pursuing several theories, including the possibility that the AT&T building could was targeted.
Korneski said on Sunday that officials looked at all motives and interviewed Warner’s acquaintances to try to determine what might have motivated him.
The bombing took place on a holiday morning well before downtown streets were bustling with activity and was accompanied by a recorded announcement warning everyone in the area that a bomb was about to detonate. For reasons that may never be known, the audio switched to a recording of Petula Clark’s 1964 hit “Downtown” shortly before the explosion.
Warner, who public records show that he had experience with electronics and alarms and who had also worked as a computer consultant for a Nashville real estate agent, was considered a person of interest in the bombing since at least Saturday, when federal and local investigators met on the house associated with him.
Federal agents were able to look around the property, search the house and the backyard. A Google Maps image taken in May 2019 showed a recreational vehicle similar to the one that exploded and parked in the backyard, but was absent on Saturday, an Associated Press reporter on site said.
On Sunday morning, police formally named Warner as an investigator.
Officials said their identification of Warner was based on several key pieces of evidence, including DNA found at the blast site. Researchers had previously revealed that human remains had been found nearby.
In addition, researchers at the Tennessee Highway Patrol recovered parts of the RV from the wreckage of the blast and were able to link the vehicle identification number to an RV registered with Warner, officials said.
“We are still following leads, but at the moment there is no evidence that other individuals were involved,” said Korneski. “We watched hours of security video around the recreational vehicle. We saw no other involved. “
Police responded to a report of shots fired on Friday when they encountered the RV, shouting a recorded warning that a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes. Suddenly the warning stopped and “Downtown” started playing.
The RV exploded shortly afterward, causing black smoke and flames to come from the heart of Nashville’s tourist hub, an area filled with honky-tonks, restaurants, and shops.
Buildings shook and windows shattered streets away from the explosion near an AT&T building one block from the company’s office tower, a downtown landmark.
But on Sunday, just blocks from where the bombing took place, tourists had already begun to fill the sidewalks of Lower Broadway, a central entertainment hub. Some took selfies while others tried to get as close to the explosion site as possible, blocked by police barricades.
Earlier Sunday, the agents who responded gave poignant detail, sometimes suffocating themselves from reliving the moments that led to the explosion.
“This will tie us together forever, for the rest of my life,” Metro Nashville police officer James Wells, who suffered some hearing loss from the explosion, told reporters at a news conference. “Christmas will never be the same again.”
Agent Brenna Hosey said she and her colleagues knocked on six or seven doors in nearby apartments to warn people to evacuate. Most of all, she remembered a shocked mother of four.
“I don’t have children, but I have cousins, people I love who are small,” Hosey said, adding that she should beg the family to leave the building as soon as possible.
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Balsamo and Tucker reported from Washington. Journalists Scott Stroud and Mark Humphrey of the Associated Press in Nashville contributed to this report.
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