According to police, officers with the Metro Nashville Police Department were responding to a shot of shots fired at 5:05 a.m. Friday when they arrived at an RV parked in front of the AT&T Transmission Building, north of 6th 2nd 2nd Avenue.
Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said during a news conference Friday that the RV was playing a recorded message indicating that a bomb would explode in 15 minutes.
Officers did not see immediate evidence of the shooting but they requested the department’s hazardous devices unit and began evacuating neighborhood residents, police said.
Police spokesman Don Aaron said the bomb squad was responding when the RV exploded on the CT at 6:30 p.m.
“We believe this was a deliberate act,” he said. “There’s significant damage to the infrastructure there on 2nd Avenue North.”
Three people were rushed to hospital from the scene, but Nashville Fire spokesman Joseph Pleasant said no one was in critical condition.
Arrow said one officer was knocked down by the force of the explosion, and another lost hearing – hopefully temporarily, he said. But no officers were significantly injured.
Aaron Rowen said officers have no information on whether anyone was inside the RV when it exploded.
A federal law enforcement source told CNN that there were no known credible threats in the Nashville area that signaled an impending attack on or before Christmas.
Another law enforcement source said federal authorities were not aware of any escalating disturbances at the national level, suggesting any credible plans to carry out attacks during the holidays by known extremist groups.
His spokesman said acting U.S. Attorney General Jeff Rosen was notified of the incident, “and directed that all DOJ resources be made available to assist in the investigation.”
The White House said President Donald Trump has also been notified shortly and will receive “regular updates.”
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said in a statement on Twitter that the state would “supply all necessary resources” to determine the cause of the explosion.
‘Everything on the street was on fire’
Eyewitness Buck McCoy told CNN that the blast occurred in front of his home, causing his window to slam from inside.
“Everything on the street was on fire,” he said. “There were three cars that were completely surrounded.”
McCoy said he originally woke up from what he believed to be a pre-explosion shot. He nodded and looked out the window, he said, but when nothing appeared he went back to bed.
Asked if the sound he heard could be anything other than a gunshot, McCoy insisted he believes he owns a gun and conducts shootings, so he is familiar with the sound of gunfire.
McCoy told CNN that when he looked outside after the explosion, trees had fallen and broken glass was everywhere. He saw people filing with their animals from their apartments. Firefighters told them to move as far away from the area as possible, he said.
“There’s nothing left on 2nd Avenue yet,” he said.
Evacuation ‘saved lives’
Prior to the blast, officers went from house to house or apartment-to-apartment to report the situation to residents, Aaron said. R.V. An officer redirected a man driving a dog on 2nd Avenue just before the explosion.
“We think those officers saved lives that way,” Aaron said Friday afternoon.
“FBI lab technical experts and evidence response teams have been brought in from across the country to help process this large-scale crime scene,” Foster said.
Mickey French, the ATF’s special agent in charge, said his agency had activated its national response teams and was working closely with the FBI and MNPD. The agency has explosives specialists, chemists and engineers involved in the evidence recovery process.
Chief William Swann said Nashville Fire Department officials are in the area to assess the structural integrity of the buildings and make sure there are no other victims.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper told CNN that dozens of buildings were damaged, mostly due to blown glass. The mayor said some buildings have been evacuated, but he does not know how many buildings or how many people have been affected.
“Right now, the glass on 2nd Avenue is damaged.”
The street is in an old, historic part of the city, on the edge of Tennessee’s hospitality and tour district.
“Fortunately not many people are here,” he said.
AT&T spokesman Jim Greer told CNN that the blast damaged the company’s network hub and could affect service in the Nashville area.
CNN’s parent company, Wernermedia, is owned by AT&T.
CNN’s Paul L. P. Murphy, Karma Hassan, Evan Perez, Josh Campbell, Brian Stelter and Devon Sears contributed to this report.
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