The suspect in the Christmas morning blast in the city of Nataville, Tennessee, is identified as 63-year-old Anthony Quinn Warner, investigators said Sunday.
Speaking to reporters, officials said state and federal investigators from the site of the blast matched the DNA with items collected from Warner and his relatives.
Special agent Douglas Korensky, in charge of the Memphis field office fees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said investigators found an RV. The identification number also matched from, which officials say the vehicle registered by the registered driver has been blown up.
Korensky said surveillance video obtained by investigators showed no one else was seen around the vehicle at the time of the explosion.
“We can tell you that Anthony Warner is believed to be responsible for this heinous crime,” said John Drake, chief of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.
Donald W. Kochra, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, added that Warner “bomb” exploded and died in the blast.
Officials declined to say whether they determined what type of explosives were used. Korensky said investigators were also working to identify a possible motive for the blast, which occurred Dec. 25 at 6:30 a.m. local time, as police officers were responding to reports of gunfire in the area.
Responding officers heard a warning of an imminent explosion from the speaker system in an RV parked outside the AT&T building. Officers also heard the vehicle broadcast the song “Downtown” by Petula Clark.
In a separate news conference earlier Sunday, James Wells, one of the officers who responded, said he lost his leg after the vehicle exploded – and temporarily, his hearing.
The blast damaged an estimated 1 businesses, including the AT&T building, which suffered “significant” damage, the company said on Sunday. Nashville’s 911 system was temporarily disrupted, planes were grounded at Nashville International Airport, and service was disrupted in Kentucky and Alabama.
The company said in a statement on Sunday that it has restored power to several floors of the building and has deployed 25 temporary satellite cell towers in the city.
More than 100 percent of AT&T’s wireless networks are back in service, although fewer business and broadband services are fully operational, the company said.
