Speculation is growing that the AT&T building was intentionally targeted in the Nashville Christmas Day bombing as the FBI probes rumors that the main suspect in the attack harbored deep paranoia about 5G technology.
Anthony Quinn Warner, 63, was named in local media as the FBI’s sole person of interest hours after an RV exploded outside Nashville’s AT&T building on Friday morning, leaving three people injured and multiple structures damaged.
At a press conference on Sunday police described how the RV, which was covered in cameras, played an ominous warning about the impending explosion and the song ‘Downtown’ by Petula Clark in the minutes before the blast went off.
The explosion is thought to have been the result of a suicide bombing after it was revealed that human remains had been recovered at the scene and officials said they were not looking for another suspect.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper on Sunday said he suspects that the AT&T transmission center was targeted in the attack.
Cooper told CBS News’ Face the Nation that it ‘feels like there has to be some connection to the AT&T facility and the site of the bombing’.
Law enforcement sources told CBS that Warner is believed to have died in the explosion as DNA tests are performed on the remains. The outlet reported that the FBI received at least two tips about Warner prior to the blast.
WSMV Nashville said that the FBI was digging into claims that Warner was paranoid about the idea that Americans are being spied on using 5G, which could explain the location of the explosion.
FBI agents raided Warner’s home on Bakerstown Road in Antioch on Saturday morning. Several neighbors described Warner as an ‘oddball’ and said they’d seen an RV parked outside the home which matched the one used in the attack.
DailyMail.com revealed that the $160,000 home had been transferred for free to 29-year-old Michelle Swing on November 25 – but she claims she was unaware of the exchange.
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Speculation is growing that the AT&T building was intentionally targeted in the Nashville Christmas Day bombing as the FBI probes rumors that the main suspect in the attack, identified by media as Anthony Quinn Warner, harbored deep paranoia about 5G technology. Pictured: Investigators dig through the wreckage on 2nd Avenue North
Chilling video captured the moment the RV exploded outside Nashville’s AT&T building at about 6.30am Friday morning
Speaking to CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday, Nashville Mayor John Cooper said he suspects that the AT&T building was targeted in the attack
Smoke rises around the AT&T transmission center in downtown Nashville moments after the explosion on Friday morning
Warner gave his $160,000 house away for nothing a month before the blast, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed. The property is pictured with a white RV used in the bombing out front on Google Street View prior to the explosion
The two properties are located just a 15 minute drive from the street in downtown Nashville where the bomb exploded
Investigators remove items from the basement of the home in Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday afternoon
Michelle Swing, a 29-year-old who lives in Los Angeles but previously lived in Tennessee, told DailyMail.com exclusively that she was unaware Anthony Quinn Warner, 63, had signed the $160,000 property away last month via a quitclaim deed
Officials on Saturday did not identify a suspect as the raid on the home began but unmarried Warner has been named in media reports and a vehicle matching the one used in the bombing is seen parked up beside the two-bed house in Google street view images.
According to Newsweek, authorities will swab Warner’s mother to determine if he is a match to the remains found at the bomb site.
Agents also spent time searching another location on Saturday, as well as Warner’s home, and spoke to a Nashville real estate agent who called in to say Warner used to work for him.
Steve Fridrich told WSMV that Warner was a subcontractor who had done IT work for him for years. He claimed agents asked him about whether Warner had spoken about 5G in the past but he said no.
‘Nice guy. You know, he was a techie guy – don’t mean anything negative about that. He would do this thing and leave. He didn’t bother anybody. He did his thing and leave [sic],’ Fridrich said.
The Daily Beast reported that Warner was previously arrested in January 1978 and found guilty on an unspecified felony charge in 1980.
He has been described as an ‘oddball’ by neighbors, some of whom had reported seeing the RV used in the explosion parked outside of his home.
Tony Rodriguez lives in the second home within the duplex that agents raided on Saturday but told the Washington Post that he never spoke to his neighbor and did not know his name.
He alleged that Warner kept ‘No Trespassing’ signs around the home, especially around the RV, and was often seen tinkering with antenna above the house.
Rodriguez also claimed that investigators had taken a computer motherboard from Warner’s house during the search.
Another neighbor Steven Stone, 61, confirmed that he had seen a similar RV parked outside of Warner’s place.
‘When I looked out my window and saw all the law enforcement that’s when it hit me that I’d see the camper up there,’ he told USA Today.
The RV which exploded on Christmas morning is pictured. Police are now purportedly investigating whether it belonged to Anthony Quinn Warner
ATF and law enforcement members investigate the Christmas Day explosion that tore through downtown Nashville
FBI agents swarmed Warner’s $160,000 property on Saturday morning in their hunt for the mystery RV driver behind the devastating blast outside Nashville’s AT&T building in the early hours of Christmas morning
Federal agents are seen on Saturday at Warner’s home on Bakertown road in Antioch
Adding to the mystery over Warner were the revelations that he had transferred his Antioch home to Swing late last month via a quitclaim deed.
Swing, who lives in Los Angeles, said she was unaware of the transfer and her signature does not appear on the deed dated November 25.
‘In the state of Tennessee you can deed property to someone else without their consent or their signature or anything,’ Swing explained to DailyMail.com on Saturday.
‘I didn’t even buy the house he just deeded it over to me without my knowledge.
‘This all very weird to me, that’s about all I can say.’
She declined to say whether she had ever met Warner or whether she had family links to him, adding: ‘I’ve been told to direct everything else to FBI.’
Records show Warner also transferred another home on Bakertown Road to Swing via a quitclaim deed in January 2019.
The $249,000 house had previously belonged to a member of his family and Warner had only been in possession of it for five months before again giving it to Swing for free. She later also used a quitclaim to give the house to another person.
The house was originally owned by Warner’s father Charles but was passed to Warner’s brother Steve after Charles’ death in 2011.
Steve died of cancer in September 2018, a month after Warner acquired the house.
Swing’s address in the record for the transfer is listed as Lenoir City, Tennessee, a two-hour drive from Nashville.
In March 2019, she also used a quitclaim to give away the house to a person named Betty Lane, according to county records.
According to her LinkedIn profile, she studied Marketing and Business and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where she remained working until 2012 when she moved to California.
Swing first lived in San Francisco before a move to Los Angeles in October 2018, where she works in artist development for Anschutz Entertainment Group.
Swing, 29, was given two homes by Warner but their link is unknown. She now lives in California
Swing has claimed that she had no idea that the house had been transferred to her at no cost on November 25
Anthony Quinn Warner, 63, signed the property away via a quitclaim deed to Michelle Swing, a 29-year-old woman living in Los Angeles, for $0.00, according to county records pictured above. Swing’s signature does not appear on the November 25th transfer and she told DailyMail.com she knew absolutely nothing about it
According to records, in January 2019, Warner also transferred this $249,000 home to Swing
Friday’s blast emanated from a white RV parked outside the AT&T building on 2nd Avenue at 6.40 am. The explosion injured three people and caused severe damage to the city’s downtown area.
Cops had been called to the area around 6am following reports of shots fired. They arrived to find no evidence of a shooting but instead encountered the RV, which was playing a recording of a woman’s voice warning that it would explode in 15 minutes.
Six responding officers who rushed to evacuate the area have been hailed as heroes for their quick efforts in the face of grave danger. They are Officers Brenna Hosey, James Luellen, Michael Sipos, Amanda Topping, James Wells and Sergeant Timothy Miller.
Five of the officers described their version of events at a press conference on Sunday morning, revealing that the RV played the song Downtown by Petula Clark before it detonated.
Investigators immediately launched a frantic chase for the person who left the RV on the street. On Saturday officials said they were pursuing approximately 500 leads and have close to 250 agents and analysts assigned to the case.
The FBI is also investigating whether the blast was deliberately designed to target law enforcement officers.
One expert is now theorizing that the spooky recording was designed to bring as many cops and first responders as possible into the area with the intention of killing or maiming them.
‘I kind of think it was probably an idea to get first responders to come in,’ ex-NYPD Detective Bill Ryan told Fox News on Saturday.
Neighbors reported seeing a white RV parked in Warner’s driveway. Agents are seen at the $160,000 home
A member of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is seen outside the home
Law enforcement officers gather to investigate the house which was scanned for further bombs
ATF police were seen searching the house and removing evidence from the basement
Neighbors watch on as investigators search the home allegedly linked to the bombing suspect
A member of law enforcement returns to his vehicle as the search on the home continues
On Saturday, Tennessee Gov Bill Lee revealed that he has requested an emergency declaration from President Donald Trump to support ongoing efforts and relief.
‘This morning I toured the site of the bombing. The damage is shocking and it is a miracle that no residents were killed. I continue to pray for those who sustained injuries from the blast,’ he wrote on Twitter.
It came as Nashville police confirmed that they are investigating whether human remains have been found at the site of the bomb blast.
According to CNN, tissue was discovered at the scene, and forensic experts are now working to determine whether it is human.
It is unclear whether anybody was inside the RV at the time it detonated.
The gigantic blast caused damage to more than 40 buildings, with new videos showing the widespread impact it created.
One shocking clip shared on social media shows an apartment building violently shaking during the blast.
A resident told CNN on Saturday: ‘I’ve never seen anything like it. It shook everything’
Meanwhile, other videos being shared widely on social media show people hiding for cover in buildings along 2nd Avenue as they were warned by cops that the RV could explode.
One man was walking his dog right by the RV and heard the warning message emanating from the vehicle.
Quick thinking cops quickly told him to get back just before the bomb went off. He told WKRN that it is a ‘Christmas miracle’ he is still alive.
The blast injured three people and caused severe damage to the city’s downtown area
One man was walking his dog right by the RV and heard the warning message emanating from the vehicle. He is seen in a lobby on the city’s downtown area just before the blast
Quick thinking cops quickly told him to get back just before the bomb went off. He told WKRN that it is a ‘Christmas miracle’ he is still alive.
This was the scene immediately after the explosion on Friday morning in downtown Nashville
On Saturday morning, the Federal Aviation Administration classified the airspace over the site of the bombing as ‘National Defense Airspace’.
The order prohibits pilots from flying over the site and a surrounding area of one nautical mile. The restriction will stay in place until December 30.
Meanwhile, the area on the ground has still been cordoned off and there is a strong police presence.
Nashville Mayor Cooper said it will be ‘some time’ before 2nd Avenue is open as normal.
On Friday evening, he announced curfew on the area around the bomb site as the investigation continued.
‘A curfew will start at 4:30pm, Friday Dec 25. and be lifted Sunday, December 27 at 4:30pm,’ he revealed in a tweet.
The blast blew in windows from at least 41 buildings, according to CNN. One building is now partially collapsed.
The RV was parked outside an AT&T facility, with the explosion causing network outages to the company’s phone and internet services.
That issue sparked safety fears as 911 dispatchers were reportedly having trouble identifying the location of callers.
USA Today reports on Saturday that outage issues lasted into the evening. It is now believed they have all been resolved.
As of Saturday morning, the area has still been cordoned off and there is a strong police presence in the area
Nashville Mayor John Cooper says it will be ‘some time’ before 2nd Avenue and the surround downtown area is open as normal
This is what is left of Second Avenue in downtown Nashville after the explosion on Friday morning. Police have not yet identified a suspect
An aerial view of the scene in downtown Nashville on Friday morning after an ‘intentional’ explosion came from a parked car
The scale of the debris was enormous. All of 2nd Avenue between The entire street on second avenue was covered with it
FBI Special Agent in charge Matt Foster made a plea to the public for information on Friday night.
‘The FBI stands with the city of Nashville today in this very tragic Christmas Day event,’ Foster said.
‘This is our city too. We live here, we work here. We’re putting everything we have into finding who was responsible for what happened here today.
‘There are leads that need to be pursued and technical works need to happen.’
Anyone with information about the incident has been asked to contact the FBI at www.fbi.gov/nashville or by calling them.
On Friday night, star of CNBC’s The Profit Marcus Lemonis also offered a $250,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the culprit.
It brought the reward total to $300,000 after previous smaller reward offers from Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp., FOX Sports host Clay Travis, and Lewis Country Store.
Emergency personnel work near the scene of an explosion in downtown Nashville, Tenn., Friday, Dec. 25, 2020
A law enforcement member walks past damage from an explosion in downtown Nashville, Tenn., Friday, Dec. 25, 2020
A vehicle burns near the site of an explosion in the area of Second and Commerce in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. December 25, 2020. It’s unclear if this was the vehicle that caused the blast or not
Source Article from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9090623/Nashville-mayor-believes-bomber-targeting-T-building-suicide-attack.html
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