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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – DECEMBER 25: Police lock down an area damaged by an explosion on Christmas morning on December 25, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee. A Dangerous Devices Unit was on its way to check an RV that later exploded outside An intentional explosion on Christmas morning causes significant damage in downtown Nashville Terry Wyatt / Getty Images / AFP
WASHINGTON – The man suspected of setting off a Nashville bomb that ripped through the southern U.S. city center on Christmas morning was named by authorities Sunday as they confirmed he was killed in the blast.
“We concluded that an individual named Anthony Warner is the attacker, that he was present when the bomb exploded and that he was killed in the bombing,” US Attorney Don Cochran said at a news conference.
Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Memphis field office, Doug Korneski, said “there was no indication that other people were involved,” although he added that they were still following leads.
Authorities at the press conference said that with the ongoing investigation they could not give details on any motive, but said that Warner had not been on their radar prior to the blast.
Police had reportedly identified the 63-year-old Warner on Saturday as a “person of interest” in connection with the explosion, which came from a parked motor home that issued a warning minutes before it exploded.
They searched a home in Antioch, a neighborhood in the Nashville area, but declined to confirm at the time if they had a suspect.
Friday’s explosion in historic downtown Nashville, America’s country music capital, damaged about 40 buildings and injured at least three people, with the streets largely abandoned early in the morning.
Authorities found human tissue at the scene of the blast, which Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Chief David Roush confirmed at a press conference matched DNA found in a vehicle Warner had used.
Police said at the time of the blast that it was an “intentional act,” but the motive remained unclear and FBI behavior analysts were involved in the investigation.
Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn on Twitter praised law enforcement officers who responded and are investigating the bomb, saying she had asked President Donald Trump to grant Nashville a federal disaster declaration, a technical measure that triggers assistance. federal government to repair the damage and provide assistance.
According to a schedule provided by authorities, police were called to the area to respond to the shots at 5:30 a.m., and officers viewed the motorhome at 6:00 a.m.
Fifteen minutes later, they heard an audio countdown coming from the vehicle warning of a bomb, interspersed with music, and the need to evacuate.
Police have not said if anyone was inside the motorhome at the time, but praised officers who arrived at the scene and took swift action.
The motorhome was parked in front of an AT&T telephone company building, causing damage that disrupted telecommunications service in Tennessee, as well as parts of Alabama and Kentucky.
AT&T said in a statement that customers in all three states continued to experience outages, more than 48 hours later. The company added that more than 25 temporary cell towers and 24 trailers of disaster recovery equipment were being deployed in the region to restore service.
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