Nashville Metro police department officers were responding to a shooting call that was fired Friday morning when they encountered an RV parked in front of an AT&T building at 166 2nd Avenue North, according to the police spokesman , Don Aaron.
Police did not see any immediate evidence of the shots fired, Aaron said at a news conference, but something about the RV prompted officers to request the department’s dangerous device unit.
The bomb squad was responding to the downtown area when the RV exploded at 6:30 a.m. CT, Aaron said.
“We think this has been an intentional act,” Aaron said. “Significant damage has been done to the infrastructure on 2nd Avenue North.”
Three people were taken to hospitals from the scene, but none were in critical condition, according to Nashville firefighter spokesman Joseph Pleasant.
The force of the blast dropped one officer, Aaron said, and caused hearing loss in another, hopefully temporarily, he said. But no officer was significantly injured.
The FBI told CNN that its local office in Memphis is in charge of the investigation.
No credible threat was known in the Nashville area that would have signaled an imminent attack on or before Christmas, a federal law enforcement source told CNN.
A second law enforcement source said federal authorities are unaware of the increase in talks nationwide by known extremist groups that indicate any credible plan to carry out attacks during the holidays.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Rosen was informed of the incident early this morning, according to his spokesman, “and ordered that all DOJ resources be available to assist in the investigation. “.
The White House said President Donald Trump also received information about the incident and would receive “periodic updates.”
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said in a statement on Twitter that the state would “provide all necessary resources” to determine the cause of the blast.
“Everything on the street was on fire”
Eyewitness Buck McCoy told CNN that the blast took place right in front of his house and caused his windows to be blown up.
“Everything on the street was on fire,” he said. “There were three cars totally engulfed.”
McCoy said he was originally awakened from what he believed were fired about 10 minutes before the blast. He got up and looked out the window, he said, but went back to bed when he saw nothing.
When asked if the noise he heard could be anything other than shots, McCoy stressed that he believed he was, saying he owns a gun and shoots, so he knows the sound of the shots.
Investigators are conducting a secondary search of downtown buildings, especially those on 2nd Avenue, to make sure no one needs help, Aaron said.
Prior to the blast, officers had gone door-to-door or floor-to-floor to inform residents of the situation. An officer walking a dog on 2nd Avenue was redirected by an officer just before the RV exploded, he said.
Officials do not know if anyone was inside the vehicle when the blast occurred, he said. Police are unaware of other blast attempts.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper told CNN that dozens of buildings have been damaged, mostly due to the explosion of glass. Some buildings have been evacuated, the mayor said, but he did not know how many buildings or how many people had been affected.
“Right now, there’s only a lot of glass damage on 2nd Avenue,” he said.
The street is on the edge of the tourist and hospitality district of the city of Tennessee, in an old and historic part of the city.
“Fortunately there aren’t a lot of people here,” he said.
McCoy told CNN when he looked outside after the explosion, the trees had fallen and broken glass was everywhere. He saw people coming out of their apartments with their animals. Firefighters told him to get as far away from the area as possible, he said.
“There’s nothing left on 2nd Avenue,” he said.
CNN’s Paul P. Murphy, Evan Perez, Josh Campbell and Devon Sayers contributed to this report.