UPDATED MONDAY, DEC. 28 AT 8 A.M., PACIFIC TIME
The “person of interest,” has been identified as Anthony Quinn Warner, 63, of Antioch, a suburb of Nashville, who died in the blast. The best theory so far on his motive was that he believed he would be “hailed as a hero” for targeting a huge AT&T network, which was located close to where his RV exploded. “He was believed to be ‘heavily into conspiracy theories,’ especially over fears that 5G networks were killing people,” an unidentified source told the Daily Mail.
By Russ and Tiña De Maris
Even as residents of Nashville, Tennessee, try to get back to normal after the early Christmas morning bombing via motorhome, authorities continue their intense investigation. While some new facts have been developed, and a person of interest identified, it will be quite a while before locals get over the Nashville RV explosion.
RV at center stage
Security camera footage from the downtown Nashville area shows an older model Class C motorhome on the streets after dark on Thursday. On Friday morning, that same rig took center stage near a transmission shop on Second Avenue North. What may or may not be connected were phone calls police dispatchers received from concerned citizens at about 5:30 in the morning: Shots fired!
Police quickly responded to the area and, once on scene, found the white rig with a public address system broadcasting a terrifying message. What some call a “computerized woman’s voice” announced, “Evacuate now. There is a bomb. A bomb is in this vehicle and will explode.” Police quickly fanned out and began banging on doors, urging nearby residents to get out to safety. The message from the RV turned more ominous when it announced, “This vehicle will explode in 15 minutes.” A minute later, a countdown began.
“Evacuate Now”
Near the end of the countdown, a final message: “If you can hear this message, evacuate now.” What followed, reported people from miles around, was a brilliant flash of light, a thunderous noise, and a fireball. The RV, as promised, exploded.
In the aftermath, at least three people were injured. A police officer was knocked off his feet and to the pavement. At least 40 buildings in the area suffered damage, many with windows blasted out of them. Near “ground zero” a tall building owned and occupied by telecom giant AT&T, considered to be a well-protected construct, took a serious beating. Cellular phones, internet service, and landlines – even in distant locations – went dead.
Even more alarming, emergency 9-1-1 service to major areas of the state also blacked out, forcing emergency responders to attempt to the get word out as to how people could call for first-responders in an emergency. Outgoing flights at the nearby Nashville International Airport were grounded for a number of hours when the telecommunications breakdown created control issues.
Downtown Nashville was soon swarming with law enforcement types, headed up by the FBI. Before the sun dropped below the horizon, causing investigators to set up portable lighting, authorities made a discovery at the explosion scene: flesh, of one sort or another. By Saturday, tests confirmed the flesh found was human tissue. The question remains, “Whose?” Was it the bomber, or a “collateral damage” victim?
Camping World connections
Who was behind the Nashville RV explosion? That’s become Nashville’s burning question. It didn’t take long for a reward to be offered for information that would help answer the question. The local visitor and convention bureau put up a $10,000 reward offer. The same group later upped the ante to $35,000.
But an interesting RV connection with big numbers popped up. Before the day of the bombing was over, Marcus Lemonis, CEO of Camping World, tweeted out, “We can’t have our streets terrorized like this.” Lemonis then pledged a quarter-million dollars toward the reward fund. Somebody used an RV to do damage, now somebody with RV industry connections wants to do some repair work. Put together with additional pledges from FOX Sports host Clay Travis, and Lewis Country Store, the grand total sits at $300,000. The FBI is seeking tips and has posted a special webpage to receive them.
Person of Interest
By Saturday, investigators said they had a person of interest. A Google street view image, taken some time before the explosion, shows an RV that looks an awful lot like the image of the one said to be the bomb delivery rig. Parked behind a board fence next to a duplex in a nearby residential neighborhood, police say it was owned by Anthony Quinn Warner, a 68-year-old man. Warner’s home is in the Antioch neighborhood, just a few miles southeast of the downtown area.
Warner, say news media accounts, recently deeded the place away. However, the recipient of the home, a California woman, wasn’t even aware she now owns the place. Under Tennessee law, a quit-claim deed can be made out to anyone, even without their knowledge. Still, as far back as 2007, property assessment photos show the same motorhome parked in the backyard. Warner is single, has no children, and is licensed as an alarm contractor.
Where’s Warner?
Where is Anthony Quinn Warner? Is he responsible for the Nashville RV explosion? Those are two questions that have yet to be answered. But the FBI reportedly wants to take a DNA swab from Warner’s mother. A DNA test, compared to what was found at the blast site, may go a long way toward answering both those questions.
Related:
Do you know this RV? Police say used in Nashville explosion
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I watched a clip from the blast, from a camera, that had a higher angle of view, looking towards the blast site, it showed a trail into the explosion, like a missle, or direct energy device, can anyone explain that one?, waiting
Hi, Dennis. Read all about it on Snopes: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/missile-strike-nashville-explosion/ —Diane at RVtravel.com
I would have thought that the article could at the very least tell us the make and model of the RV. Why is this so difficult to figure out? I think this would be relevant to finding the owner and/or the history of the vehicle.
Just reporting what I read from a “reliable” news source. Supposedly Warner’s father worked for ATT-Bellsouth & died in 2011. Who knows the truth. Never was a conspiracy person, but it is near impossible to know who to believe these days. Sad state we are in.
Taking a look at the DIFFERENT Motorhomes it is pretty clear they are not the same unit. The location of the air conditioning unit is not the same. Warners unit is located near the right edge of the roof while the unit shown on one located downtown appears to be close to the center of the roof.
It’s a line of sight perspective, they appear to be the same vehicle.
Click on the pics to blow them up. Clearly the one inside the fence has completely different rooftop layout, different type AC unit, sitting right on edge of the roof versus the usual center. Something isn’t right here. False flag thing going on? Some speculate missile strike from other video.
So let me understand this. It was just a coincidence that the RV was playing a warning to evacuate AND the RV was obliterated by a missile? Some people will believe anything.
Once upon a time you could trust the FBI to do a thorough and effective investigation. Well at least the Ephrem Zimbalist Jr version of the FBI.
Conspiracy theorists are having a field day with this one. Sales of tin hats are up 1000% since the explosion!
With all due respect sir, if this isn’t a conspiracy, I’d really like to hear your all knowing, expert conclusion with empirical evidence.
It takes more than one person to have a conspiracy. So far, the police have only one person of interest.
Four years ago I flew my son into Las Vegas for Christmas break. I own a small Class C and thought a trip to Death Valley was a good idea. We froze…Anyway I got to the airport a tad early for his flight and figured I’d just park. There was no where to stop. So I parked with the limos. Soon a security guard walked up and told me to leave. So I drove thru the airport and found myself on the same road so I parked further up. Here comes the guard with a guy wearing a suit. Oh dear… so I asked nicely what was the problem? The manager told me I was making the people watching the security monitors “nervous” and that if my rig was full of explosives I could level the entire airport. My response was “I have too much to live for, so tell them to relax”. My next trip thru the ‘port my son was curbside with a security guard. His first question was “What did you do this time?”.
Prayers to all the fine people in Nashville.
Look at the damage one explosion did. Perhaps a cover for something else, Sun Guard is connected to Solar Winds…Who else leases space in that building?
It was likely a suicide by Warner coupled with a blow to AT&T for Warner’s concern over 5G and/or AT&T’s/DirecTV’s egregious billing practices. The warning message was probably Warner’s attempt to minimize human injuries, and the shots were likely fired by Warner to attract police to clear the area and further reduce the chances of human injuries. Note that the warning message was playing when police arrived and continued for at least 15 minutes. (I am not defending what Warner did, but just speculating what may have been going through his head, nor do I have any “inside” information.)
These were my thoughts too.
Something is off. Terrorists don’t warn people.
There are a lot of “funny” things in this, I won’t publish any of the rumors I’ve been hearing, but there’s to many unanswered questions; like why did the bomber park the RV in front of the AT&T building? Surely it wasn’t a disgruntled customer about his phone bill. The building security cameras showed the RV arriving at 1:22AM, what went on between 1:22 and 6:30? If DNA proves Warner was inside the RV when exploded, did he have an accomplice, was the reported gun shots fired by his accomplice to kill him and hopefully place the entire blame on him? A lot of what if’s, what was in that building besides offices and switching equipment that may incriminate someone or some organization? To quote an old radio show, “Only the Shadow Knows”! Lol
Sounds like an episode of “Criminal Minds”.
In the final wrap up we may see this on criminal minds, or blue bloods, or dr Phil. What we need is a good TV producer and director to solve this case in the 42 minute episode. I still think there is numerous what if’s that haven’t been explained and it seems like another cover up brewing. It’s a shame J Edgar Hoover died before he had a chance to blame it on the “commies”.