Mark Humphrey / AP
A law enforcement member walks past damage from an explosion in downtown Nashville on Dec. 25, 2020.
New surveillance footage shows a Nashville police officer walking about a block from an RV just seconds before it exploded in downtown on Christmas, killing its occupant and injuring three others.
This is video of Friday morning’s explosion recorded by an MNPD camera at 2nd Ave N & Commerce St.
The footage was released Sunday hours after officials identified the person killed in the explosion as 63-year-old Anthony Quinn Warner.
In addition to injuring three people, the apparent suicide bombing severely damaged nearby buildings and affected cellphone networks.
Officials said they did not immediately know what Warner’s motive was, which is why the incident has not yet been labeled domestic terrorism.
“When we assess an event for domestic terrorism … it has to be tied to an ideology,” said Doug Korneski, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Memphis office. “It’s the use of force or violence in the furtherance of a political [or] social ideology — we haven’t tied it to that yet.”
Warner is believed to have acted alone, and there is no indication that there are other suspects.
One person, who previously employed Warner as a computer technician, told WSMV-TV that the FBI asked him whether Warner was paranoid about 5G, a technology that has become a focus of conspiracy theories, such as the QAnon mass delusion. He said Warner never mentioned it, and he was unaware of any particular ideology he may have had.
On Sunday, Nashville Mayor John Cooper told CBS’s Face the Nation that the incident appeared to be an attack on infrastructure.
“To all of us locally, it feels like there has to be some connection with the AT&T facility and the site of the bombing,” Cooper said. “You know, and that’s a bit of just local insight in because it’s got to have something to do with the infrastructure.”
In a press conference on Sunday, Nashville Police Chief John Drake praised the six officers who evacuated civilians from the area after the RV played a warning message that it would blow up in 15 minutes.
“They didn’t think about their own lives; they didn’t think about protecting themselves,” Drake said. “They thought about the citizens of Nashville and protecting them.”
Metropolitan Nashville Police Department
A photo of the RV captured on surveillance footage prior to the explosion, released by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.
In between broadcasting the warning message, the RV played music, one of the officers, James Luellen, told reporters.
“What I specifically … remembered was ‘Downtown, where the lights…
Read More News: Video Shows A Nashville Cop Narrowly Avoiding The RV Bomb Seconds Before It Went Off
