Three injured in suspicious explosion after bomb threat in Nashville on Christmas Day

A recreational vehicle parked on the deserted streets of downtown Nashville exploded early on Christmas morning, causing widespread communications blackouts that destroyed police emergency systems and grounded flights at the city’s airport. Authorities said they believe the explosion was intentional.

Police were responding to a shooting report Friday when they came upon the motorhome with a recorded warning that a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes, Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said. Police evacuated nearby buildings and called the bomb squad.

“Shortly after that, the RV exploded,” Drake told a news conference at noon.

Surveillance video posted on a Twitter account on Friday that appeared to be across the street from the explosion captured the warning issued by the RV, “… if you can hear this message, evacuate now,” seconds before the explosion.

The blast sent black smoke and flames from the heart of the downtown Nashville tourist scene, an area packed with honky-tonks, restaurants and shops. Buildings shook the streets from the blast near a building owned by AT&T, which is one block from the company’s office tower.

“We don’t know if that was a coincidence, or if that was the intention,” said police spokesman Don Aaron.

AT&T said the affected building is the central office of a telephone exchange, with network equipment in it. The blast disrupted service, but the company declined to say how widespread the outages were.

“Service for some customers in Nashville and surrounding areas may be impacted by damage to our facilities from the explosion this morning. We are in contact with law enforcement and working as quickly and safely as possible to restore service.” said AT&T spokesman Jim Greer. in an emailed statement.

AT & T’s outage site showed service problems in central Tennessee and Kentucky, including Bowling Green, about 105 km north of Nashville. Multiple law enforcement agencies reported that their 911 systems were down due to the outage, including Murfreesboro and Knox County, home to Knoxville about 290 miles east of Nashville.

The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily halted flights from Nashville International Airport due to telecommunications problems associated with the explosion.

Three people were taken to area hospitals for treatment after the blast, although none were in critical condition, Aaron said. Authorities do not know if anyone was in the vehicle when it exploded. Nashville Mayor John Cooper said the city was fortunate that the number of injuries was limited.

Aaron previously said that some people were taken to the department’s headquarters for questioning, but he declined to elaborate.

The FBI will take the lead in the investigation, agency spokesman Joel Siskovic said. Federal investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also on the scene. The FBI is the primary law enforcement agency responsible for investigating federal crimes, such as explosives violations and acts of terrorism.

A Philadelphia man who was staying at a nearby hotel said that when he heard the explosion, he knew it was not harmless.

“We tried to rationalize that it was an earthquake or something, but it was obvious that it was not an earthquake,” said Joseph Fafara. He said he traveled to Tennessee with his family for Christmas because the state has looser Covid-19 restrictions than Philadelphia.

When he went to see the damage, police barricades had already been put up. At noon, police dogs continued to search cars and buildings in the nearby area.

Buck McCoy, who lives near the area, posted videos on Facebook showing water falling from the roof of his home. Alarms sound in the background along with the screams of people in distress. A fire is visible on the street outside.

McCoy said he heard gunshots 15 minutes before the explosion rocked his building, set fire to cars in the street and destroyed trees.

“All my windows, each and every one of them blew into the next room. If I’d been standing there it would have been horrible,” he said.

“It felt like a bomb. It was that big,” he told the Associated Press.

President Donald Trump has been briefed, according to White House spokesman Judd Deere. The US Department of Justice said Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen was also informed and ordered that all department resources be available to assist with the investigation.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said on Twitter that the state would provide the necessary resources “to determine what happened and who was responsible.”

The Tennessee American Red Cross announced that it was working with officials to open a shelter for the victims.

– AP