NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) – With federal officials identifying the man believed to be behind the Nashville Christmas Day bombing, authorities are now engaged in the monumental task of gathering the cause of the explosion that it severely damaged dozens of downtown buildings 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’s just not possible, “said David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Office of Research in an interview Monday.” The best way to find reasons is to talk to the individual. We can’t. do in this case “.
In just a few days, hundreds of tips and opportunities have been presented to police agencies. However, so far, officials have not provided information on what possibly prompted Warner to cause the explosion. According to officials, he had not been on the radar before Christmas. A TBI records report released Monday showed that Warner’s only arrest was for a 1978 marijuana-related charge.
“It seems that the intention was more destruction than death, but again this is still speculation at this time, as we continue our investigation with all our partners,” Rausch added.
In addition, officials have not provided information on why Warner selected the specific location for the bombing, which damaged an AT&T building and continued to wreak havoc on mobile phone service and police and hospital communications in several states. south while the company worked to restore service.
Forensic analysts were reviewing evidence gathered at the blast site to try to identify the components of the explosives, as well as information from the U.S. Bomb Data Center for information and investigation services, according to a police official who went say the researchers examined Warner’s fingerprint and financial history, as well as the recent transfer of a deed from a Nashville suburban home they sought.
The official, who was not allowed to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke with the PA on condition of anonymity, said federal agents were examining a number of possible contacts and pursuing various theories, including the possibility that treated of the AT&T building.
Korneski said Sunday that officials were studying all the motives and interviewing Warner acquaintances to try to determine what may have motivated them.
The bombing took place one holiday morning long before the streets of the center were bustling with activity and was accompanied by a recorded ad warning everyone that a bomb would detonate soon. Then, for reasons that will never be known, the audio switched to a recording of Petula Clark’s 1964 hit “Downtown” shortly before the explosion.
Warner, who shows public records had experience in electronics and alarms and had also worked as a computer consultant for a Nashville real estate agent, had been considered a person of interest in the bombing since Saturday, as minimum, when federal and local researchers house tied to him.
Federal agents could be seen looking around the property, scanning the house and back garden. A Google Maps image captured in May 2019 had shown a RV similar to the one it exploded parked in the back garden, but was not on the property on Saturday, according to an Associated Press reporter on the site.
On Sunday morning, police formally named Warner under investigation.
Officials said his Warner identification was based on several key tests, including DNA found at the site of the blast. Investigators had already revealed that human remains had been found in the vicinity.
In addition, investigators from the Tennessee Highway Patrol recovered parts of the RV from the wreckage and were able to link the vehicle’s identification number to a Warner-registered RV, officials said. .
“We are still following the directions, but right now there are no indications that anyone else has been involved,” Korneski said. “We checked hours of safety video around the recreational vehicle. We didn’t see any other people involved.”
Police were responding to a report of gunfire Friday when they encountered the RV sounding a warning that a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes. Suddenly, the warning stopped and “Downtown” began to ring.
The RV exploded shortly after and sent black smoke and flames from the center of the downtown Nashville tourist scene, an area full of shops, restaurants and shops.
Buildings shook and windows shattered the streets of the blast near an AT&T-owned building located one block from the company’s office tower, a landmark in the city center.
But on Sunday, a few blocks from where the bombing took place, tourists had already begun filling the sidewalks of Lower Broadway, a central entertainment district. Some took selfies while others tried to get as close as possible to the site of the explosion, blocked by police barricades.
Earlier Sunday, responding officers provided distressing details, sometimes drowning reliving the moments that led to the explosion.
“This will unite us forever, the rest of my life,” Metro Nashville police officer James Wells, who suffered some hearing loss due to the blast, told reporters at a news conference. “Christmas will never be the same.”
Agent Brenna Hosey said she and her colleagues knocked on six or seven doors at nearby apartments to warn people they had to evacuate. He particularly remembered a startled mother of four.
“I don’t have children, but I have cousins and nieces, people I love who are small,” Hosey said, adding that he had to ask the family to leave the building as soon as possible.
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Balsam and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Scott Stroud and Mark Humphrey in Nashville contributed to this report.
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