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NASHVILLE, Tennessee: A parked motor home exploded on a tree-lined street in downtown Nashville at dawn on Friday morning (December 25) minutes after a recorded advertisement emanating from the vehicle warned of a bomb, causing the Police said it was an “intentional act that injured at least three people.
Police said it was unclear if anyone was inside the RV at the time. CNN, citing unidentified sources, reported hours later that investigators had found possible human remains near the blast site.
The Christmas Day explosion, which shook the heart of America’s country music capital, came moments after officers responded to reports of gunfire in the area and discovered the RV parked in front of a tower of offices in the city center around 6 am
Police heard a recorded voice warning that “a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes,” Nashville Police Chief John Drake told reporters later.
The message, captured in a recording later broadcast by local television news stations, read: “This area must be evacuated now. This area must be evacuated now. If you can hear this message, evacuate now. If you can hear this message , evacuate now. “
A vehicle burns near the scene of an explosion in the Second and Commerce area of Nashville, Tennessee, on December 25, 2020 (Phoot: Andrew Nelles / Tennessean.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via REUTERS)
Officers quickly went door-to-door in nearby buildings to get people to safety and called for the police bomb squad, which was heading to the scene, to be dispatched when the vehicle exploded, the police spokesman said. Don Aaron.
The Metro Nashville Police Department posted a photo of the RV on its Twitter account and said the vehicle had arrived in the area at 1.22 a.m.
The explosion devastated the heart of the city and destroyed several other vehicles and severely damaged several buildings, sending a layer of black smoke into the sky that could be seen from miles away.
Firefighters said three people were taken to local hospitals with minor injuries. Authorities said quick action by police to begin evacuating the area before the blast likely prevented more casualties.
“Obviously, they heard the announcements coming from this vehicle,” Aaron told reporters. “They took them seriously. And they worked to seal off the streets to protect people and we think it worked.” He called the explosion “an intentional act.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Twitter that its agents were assisting in the investigation and seeking information from digital media about the explosion.
Andrew McCabe, a former deputy director of the FBI, told CNN that an explosion of this size would be investigated as a possible act of terrorism, whether national or international.
Police did not offer a possible motive for the apparent attack. McCabe said police may have been the target of the blast since they were called to the scene beforehand.
Nashville Deputy Mayor Jim Shulman told CNN that the incident appeared to have been a lonely act and that investigators did not believe there was a constant threat of further bombings.
Most of the buildings on the tree-lined street with shops and offices were closed due to the early hours of the day and the Christmas holidays, helping to minimize injuries.
The blast, which could be heard from miles away and felt nine blocks away, knocked down an officer and caused what was expected to be only temporary hearing loss, the police spokesman said.
“There were trees everywhere, glass everywhere,” Nashville resident Buck McCoy told CNN.
Smoke rises from the site of an explosion in the Second and Commerce area of Nashville, Tennessee, on December 25, 2020 (Photo: Andrew Nelles / Tennessean.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via REUTERS)
Nashville Mayor John Cooper urged residents to stay away from the city center while police and federal authorities investigated, aided by bomb-sniffing dogs and surveillance camera footage.
President Donald Trump was briefed on the blast, a White House spokesman said.
Car bombs in the United States are rare.
A 1995 truck bomb in Oklahoma City killed 168 people, including 19 children, and injured hundreds. Timothy McVeigh was executed by lethal injection in June 2001 for the attack.
In April 2010, a food vendor thwarted an attempt to detonate a car bomb in New York’s Times Square.
