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While investigations are still ongoing to learn the details of the blast, which shook downtown Nashville full of bars and restaurants on Friday, city police posted a picture on their Twitter account early Saturday morning. of the vehicle that exploded, which looks more like a “caravan” or a mobile home, in white.
Although the details of that incident are still hidden, official information indicated that a recorded sound was emitted from the motorhome, warning residents that they must evacuate the area minutes before its explosion that shook the city center in the early yesterday morning, and slightly injured three people in what the police described as an intentional act.
The recorded call from the vehicle repeated: “This area must be evacuated now … if you can hear this message, leave the area now,” and continued for several minutes before the explosion, according to what was later broadcast by News Channel 5. in Nashville.
Pump warning
Police described the car, which was parked in the heart of Tennessee’s state capital, as a caravan that could be used for camping.
The Nashville police chief said the recorded message warned that “the bomb will explode in 15 minutes.”
Don Aaron, a police spokesman, added that while the message was being returned from the vehicle, which is around 6 am local time (1200 GMT) on Friday, they received an emergency call about “shooting” in the area. tourist center. After their arrival, they called in the bomb disposal team, which was on their way to the scene when the explosion occurred.
Notably, the blast destroyed several vehicles and damaged buildings, and black smoke rose into the sky and was visible from miles away.
Firefighters said three people were hospitalized but not seriously injured.
Minutes before the explosion, police personnel knocked on the doors of neighbors in neighboring buildings, asking them to take cover, and ordered a man who was walking his dog near the vehicle to move away.
Deliberate action
Aaron told reporters: “It was clear they heard the calls from the vehicle … They took it seriously and moved to secure the streets and protect the people, and we believe they succeeded,” describing the explosion as an “act deliberate”.
From downtown Nashville, where the explosion occurred (Archives – Associated Press)
Meanwhile, Andrew McCabe, a former FBI deputy, told CNN that an explosion of this magnitude would be investigated as a possible terrorist act at the local or international level. He said police may be the likely target of the blast, given that they were responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle when it exploded.
Notably, most of the interests in buildings in the area were closed, due to the early hours of the Christmas holidays in downtown Nashville, Tennessee’s capital.
