Mark Humphrey / AP
A police officer goes through the damage of an explosion in downtown Nashville on December 25, 2020.
A new surveillance footage shows a Nashville police officer walking about a block from a trailer a few seconds before it blows up downtown at Christmas, killing its occupant and injuring three others.
This is the video of the Friday morning explosion, recorded by an MNPD camera at 2nd Ave N & Commerce St.
The footage was released on Sunday after authorities identified the person killed in the explosion as 63-year-old Anthony Quinn Warner.
In addition to injuring three people, the apparent suicide bombing seriously damaged nearby buildings and affected cell phone networks.
Authorities said they did not immediately know what Warner’s motive was, which is why the incident has not yet been labeled as domestic terrorism.
“When we evaluate a domestic terrorism event … it must be tied to an ideology,” said Doug Korneski, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Memphis office. “It is the use of force or violence in promoting a political [or] social ideology – we haven’t associated it with that yet. “
Warner is believed to have acted alone and there is no evidence that there are other suspects.
One person, who previously employed Warner as a computer technician, told WSMV-TV that the FBI asked him if Warner was paranoid about 5G, a technology that has become a focus of conspiracy theories, such as the mass illusion QAnon. He said that Warner never mentioned it, and he was unaware of any particular ideology he might have.
On Sunday, Nashville Mayor John Cooper told the CBS program Face the Nation that the incident appeared to be an attack on infrastructure.
“For all of us locally, it looks like there must be some connection to the AT&T facility and the location of the bombing,” said Cooper. “You know, and this is just a local view because it has to have something to do with the infrastructure.”
At a press conference on Sunday, Nashville police chief John Drake praised the six officers who removed civilians from the area after the trailer issued a warning message that it would explode in 15 minutes.
“They didn’t think about their own lives; they didn’t think about protecting themselves,” said Drake. “They thought about the citizens of Nashville and about protecting them.”
Nashville Metropolitan Police Department
A photo of the RV captured in surveillance footage before the explosion, released by the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department.
Between the transmission of the warning message, the RV played music, one of the officers, James Luellen, told reporters.
“What I specifically … remembered was ‘Downtown, where the lights shine’,” said Luellen. “Later, the ATF agent I spoke to pulled him up, and ‘Downtown’ by Petula Clark was a specific song that was played. “
Another officer, James Wells, recalled the terrible minutes before the bomb went off, saying he had gone back to the car to get armor and started walking back to the trailer.
“I literally hear God telling me to go back and check [Officer] Topping … and then the music stopped and while I’m going back to Topping now, I just see orange, and then I hear a big bang. “
Wells said the explosion was so intense that he almost lost his balance.
“[As] I started to stumble, I just tell myself to stand up and stay alive, “said Wells.
Mark Humphrey / AP
Emergency personnel work at the explosion site in downtown Nashville on December 25.
Topping also remembered the moment of the explosion, and how she ran to Wells and hid with him at a door.
“I have never grasped someone so hard in my life,” said Topping. “I will never forget the windows breaking after the explosion around me – it kind of looked like a great accessory from a movie scene, all the windows breaking at once.”
In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee thanked the police for evacuating people from the scene.
“When they talk about putting their lives at risk, that’s exactly what they did that morning,” said Lee. “They came across this situation and saved many lives.”
Lee also said he spoke to President Trump on Sunday to apply for emergency aid funding for small business owners whose businesses were destroyed in the explosion.
“Small business owners have had a very difficult year to start,” said Lee. “When you see the damage down there … I see business owners with a new struggle.”