Suspect Behind Nashville Bombing Not on Police Radar | Voice of America

U.S. investigators say the person behind Nashville’s Christmas Day bombing was “not on our radar” as they continued to work to find out a motive in Friday’s explosion that injured three individuals. 

“He was not somebody that was recognized as an individual of curiosity for the bureau, and so we weren’t acquainted with this particular person till … this incident,” mentioned David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, whereas chatting with reporters by way of a Zoom convention. 

Authorities on Sunday recognized 63-year-old Anthony Quinn Warner as the person who blew up a motor residence at daybreak in a neighborhood of Tennessee’s southern metropolis of Nashville, killing himself. The blast broken dozens of buildings and disrupted telecommunications methods within the neighborhood, which is crammed with nation music bars and eating places. 

Investigators used DNA and different proof equivalent to finding the car identification quantity from the motor residence and suggestions from the general public to hyperlink Warner to the explosion. 

Rausch mentioned on Monday that Warner’s mom was cooperating with the investigation however that the motive for the explosion was nonetheless not clear. He mentioned Warner’s solely arrest was for a 1978 marijuana-related cost.  

Rausch mentioned the multi-agency investigation into the blast includes the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the FBI, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  

“We’re all taking items of the puzzle, working to find out what the motivation was for this particular person,” he mentioned. 

For the reason that blast, a whole lot of suggestions and leads have been submitted to legislation enforcement companies.  

A neighbor of Warner’s, Rick Laude, instructed The Related Press that he spoke to Warner simply days earlier than the explosion. He mentioned Warner instructed him, “Nashville and the world is rarely going to neglect me.”  

Laude mentioned that nothing about Warner raised any pink flags and that he assumed the comment meant that “one thing good” was going to occur for Warner financially. 

The FBI mentioned its brokers and people from ATF have been nonetheless recovering and analyzing proof. The realm across the blast remained closed Monday.  

“The motive for the incident remains to be unclear,” the FBI mentioned in a press release late Sunday.  “Leads are nonetheless being adopted, however right now, there isn’t a indication that every other people are concerned.”

Authorities searched Warner’s residence Saturday within the suburb of Antioch about 18 kilometers from the blast website.  

A number of neighbors of Warner’s mentioned they’d seen a light-colored leisure car, just like the one which blew up Friday, within the yard of the Antioch duplex throughout the previous a number of months.   

Public data present that Warner had expertise with electronics and alarms. He additionally labored info know-how jobs.    

Investigators have no idea why Warner selected downtown Nashville for what they described as an “intentional act” and a “deliberate bomb.”    

One principle is that an AT&T communications constructing was focused as a result of the leisure car was parked close to it when the bomb went off.   

Rausch mentioned Monday that Warner’s father had labored for AT&T however that it was not clear if that was in any approach linked. 

Communications have been affected in a number of states as the results of the blast, though a lot of the service was restored by Sunday afternoon.   

Nashville Mayor John Cooper instructed CBS Information’ “Face the Nation” Sunday that the placement of the bombing, subsequent to the AT&T constructing, indicated it was meant to be an assault on communications service.   

“It appears like there must be some reference to the AT&T facility and the location of the bombing,” he mentioned. “It’s obtained to have one thing to do with the infrastructure.”   

Six law enforcement officials have been credited for saving individuals from being damage after a recorded message coming from the car mentioned individuals ought to evacuate.