Records show that the late father of the Nashville bomb suspect worked for BellSouth, a telecommunications company that merged with AT&T in 2006, before his death in July 2011, at the age of 78. The explosion on Christmas morning detonated outside an AT&T building, injuring three people and causing service interruptions that affected 911 customers and operations.
Two senior law enforcement officers who saw the investigative reports confirmed for Newsweek on Saturday, federal investigators were searching the home of Anthony Quinn Warner, 63, who is considered a suspect in the December 25 attack. The officers requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the case officially.
A LexisNexis report on Anthony Warner, obtained by Newsweek, showed that he was born in January 1957, is 63 years old and is located at 3724 Bakerton Road and 115 Bakertown Road in Nashville – the address authorities started searching on Saturday. The report listed Charles B. Warner and Steven L. Warner as the suspect’s potential relatives, and an obituary in The Tennessean confirmed that Charles Warner left his children, Steve and Tony Warner.
A separate LexisNexis report on Warner’s father, obtained by Newsweek, showed that Charles B. Warner worked at BellSouth before his death on July 5, 2011. Two of the three email addresses listed under Warner’s father were also connected to BellSouth.
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On Friday afternoon, police said the trailer arrived at Second Avenue North at 1:22 am local time. The vehicle was located outside an AT&T transmission building. The bomb, detonated around 6:30 am, damaged the AT&T building, causing interruptions in service to residents of the area, including emergency lines.
“The fact that the father works at the same company is definitely an issue that investigators pursue,” said a senior law enforcement official. Newsweek Saturday night, when asked about the suspect’s father’s connection to AT&T.
“They are definitely pulling out their father’s employment record to see if there is any connection between this bombing and their job,” added the source. “In an investigation of this magnitude, it would be logical to see if there is a link between the father’s adverse action at work and the location where the bombing occurred.”
Authorities have not yet publicly identified the reason for the attack or the suspect.
Authorities previously confirmed that possible human remains were found at the scene of the incident, and an investigation into an Antioch home in the Nashville suburb began on Saturday.
Earlier on Saturday, the two main police sources said Newsweek that federal investigators will clean up Warner’s mother to determine a match with the possible remains found in the RV. If her DNA is related to the remains found in the trailer, a law enforcement official said, the explosion was probably a suicide bombing.
“I would say that in order to identify human remains, it is likely that a member of Mr. Warner’s family will be asked to provide DNA. This will likely be done by the FBI, which is the main investigative agency,” one of the top sources of application of the law said Newsweek. “Assuming this is the bomber’s mother, the FBI labs are within 48-72 hours for confirmation.”
During a press conference on Saturday, US Attorney Don Cochran said it was still unclear whether there were only one or more suspects involved in the explosion that left three people injured in downtown Nashville. Federal, state and local investigators are tracking more than 500 reported leads in the past 24 hours.
Cochran described the incident as a “cowardly attack on Christmas morning” after police said it was intentional.
Nashville police chief John Drake assured residents that the city is now “safe”. John Cooper, the city’s mayor, implemented a downtown curfew until Sunday to limit public access to the crime scene while the investigation continues.
The search for a home connected to Warner on Bakerton Road in Antioch, a Nashville neighborhood, began just before 11 am local time.
Neighbors counted The Tennessean that a trailer, similar to the vehicle involved in the explosion, was seen off-site in the past two weeks. An image from Google Street View, taken in May 2019, showed a similar vehicle in the garage; however, he was not present at the scene on Saturday when authorities arrived.
A search for Anthony Warner in the Davidson County Historical Criminal Records shows that a man born on January 17, 1957, who would now be 63, was arrested and charged with a crime related to possession of a controlled substance on January 29, 1978 .
Update on 12/26/20 10:46 PM: This story has been changed to clarify that NexisLexis has listed 3724 Bakerton Road and 115 Bakerton Road as Warner addresses. Officials searched Bakerton Road 115 on Saturday.