Nashville blast: Officials identify Anthony Warner as suicide bomber, say he died in explosion
By Team Newsable | First Published Dec 28, 2020, 10:55 AM ISTInvestigators matched human remains found at the scene with Warner’s DNA, confirming suspicions that he blew himself up in a recreational vehicle, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch told reporters.
Nashville (US): Authorities in Tennessee on Sunday named a 63-year-old Nashville resident as the perpetrator of the Christmas morning bombing that injured three people and destroyed sections of Nashville’s historic downtown.
Investigators matched human remains found at the scene with Warner’s DNA, confirming suspicions that he blew himself up in a recreational vehicle, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch told reporters. Law enforcement said they were still investigating a motive behind the incident.
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FBI forensic experts matched DNA samples recovered from the scene to that of Anthony Q. Warner, whose home in nearby Antioch was searched on Saturday by federal agents.
“We’ve come to the conclusion that an individual named Anthony Warner is the bomber and he was present when the bomb went off and that he perished in the bombing,” Donald Cochran, US Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, told a news conference.
Officials said it was too early in the investigation to discuss the suspect’s motives.
Additional identification was made possible from clues found at the scene of Friday’s explosion, which took place at a facility owned by the telecommunications company AT&T, and which knocked out or impaired mobile phone services in several other cities.
Teams of investigators continue to comb the site of the bombing on Sunday for clues and a curfew in the center of the city was extended.
At a news conference on Sunday, five Nashville police officers who were on the scene early on Friday recalled the dramatic moments ahead of the explosion, as they scrambled to evacuate homes and buildings and called for a bomb squad, which was en route when the motor home blew up.
“I was thrown forward, knocked to the ground,” officer Brenna Hosey told reporters about the moment of the explosion. “But I was able to catch myself, I was fine.”
Several of the officers who attended the incident spoke at an emotional press conference on Sunday. James Wells, who suffered hearing loss in the blast, broke down in tears as he recalled the events of the morning.
The officers have been hailed as heroes by city leaders.
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