Nashville RV suicide bomber Anthony Quinn Warner probably chose Christmas morning for his devastating suicide explosion because his “intention was more destruction than death,” an investigator said on Monday.
The 63-year-old loner notably blew up a series of buildings when the normally crowded streets in the historic city center were almost deserted, Director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation David Rausch said on NBC’s “Today” program.
He also gave “the opportunity to clear the area” with warnings from his trailer “that an explosion was imminent,” said Rausch, of the audio that also strangely played Petula Clark’s classic pop song, “Downtown”.
The evidence “certainly gives him the perception that the possibility was that he had no intention of harming anyone other than himself,” said the senior investigator.
“It seems that the intention was more destruction than death,” he said.
The massive investigation – involving federal, state and local authorities – is hampered by the fact that the IT consultant does not appear to have a presence on social media or left any suggestion of political ideology, confirmed the investigator.
“We don’t know for sure whether we will ever get there with the complete answer because obviously this individual is no longer with us” to be questioned, said Rausch.
“We may never discover the exact reasoning behind the activity that took place,” he added.
The agency’s director also revealed that his team was able to confirm that Warner was killed in the explosion through remains with DNA from a hat and gloves from one of the attacker’s old cars.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper said on Sunday that the attack appeared to be an “infrastructure attack” that targeted the AT&T building on the block, which led to huge service disruptions in several states.
“For all of us locally, it looks like there must be some connection to the AT&T facility and the bombing location,” Cooper told CBS News’ “Face the Nation”.
“It has to have something to do with the infrastructure,” he said of an attack by a man who allegedly believed in conspiracy theories about 5G networks.