The trailer that exploded in a huge fireball on Christmas morning in downtown Nashville was playing Petula Clark’s classic pop song “Downtown” just before the explosion rocked the city, a policeman said on Sunday.
Officer James Luellen, one of six hero police officers who evacuated civilians from the area while the explosive-equipped SUV fired an audible warning, remembered hearing the vehicle’s intermittent countdown to the top of the 1965 charts.
“The song started, and I notified it at [police radio] air to notify other officers, ”said Luellen, speaking alongside four of his fellow officers at a press conference on Sunday. “So, after the song, it continued to come back to the ad for a while.”
Luellen said he did not immediately recognize the song, but he kept enough in his memory to later ask another respondent from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about it.
“What I remembered was, ‘Downtown, where the lights shine brightly,'” he said. “Later, the ATF agent I spoke with brought up the subject and … ‘Downtown’ by Petula Clark was the specific song that was played.
Upon completion of the recorded warning to evacuate the area, the RV exploded in a volley of splinters and flames, destroying parts of nearby buildings and leaving three people injured.
Suspicious human remains have been found among the wreckage, and police are investigating whether they belong to the possible owner of the trailer, Anthony Quinn Warner.
Investigators are said to be investigating whether Warner, a 63-year-old computer expert, intentionally detonated the trailer outside an AT&T building – hampering local cell service – for paranoia about 5G technology and alleged government listening.