Large 'intentional' blast wrecks buildings in
downtown Nashville
Explosion linked to parked RV occurred after warning
call
Three suffer non-critical injuries as structural
damage reported
Edward
Helmore in New York and agencies
Fri 25 Dec
2020 20.41 GMTFirst published on Fri 25 Dec 2020 15.28 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/25/explosion-nashville-intentional-act-police-say
Downtown
Nashville was sealed off today, after a large explosion destroyed several
buildings on Christmas morning in what appears to have been an “intentional
act”, according to local police.
At a
briefing late morning, the FBI announced that the agency, along with the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, would lead the investigation into
a blast that left three people with non-critical injuries.
Authorities
said they had received a phone call warning that a parked recreational vehicle
(RV) was set to explode in 15 minutes. The RV itself began broadcasting an
apparently recorded repeating message for anyone nearby to stand away.
As
Nashville police officers cleared the area of residents, the vehicle exploded,
causing structural damage to several buildings, knocking down trees, and
smashing windows for hundreds of yards.
“We had one
officer that was knocked to the ground … and we are currently sweeping the area
to make sure everyone is safe,” said a Nashville police spokesman, Don Aaron.
Aaron said
police are not aware of other threats to public, but bomb dogs swept the area
as a precaution. Authorities could not say if anyone was in the vehicle when it
exploded.
Don
Cochran, US attorney for Nashville, said the Department of Justice was
directing its full resources to the investigation. FBI assistant special agent
Matt Foster appealed to the public for tips. “We need your leads and we need
your help,” he said.
Nashville
police tweeted out a picture of the suspected vehicle caught on a security
camera. It appeared to be a relatively old model with a pale paint job.
The ATF
special agent in charge, Mickey French, said the agency had activated a
national response team, including explosives experts to help investigate the
incident. “Our main priority is obviously to keep our citizens safe and
secure,” he said.
Images from
the city’s entertainment district showed multiple buildings with windows blown
out and masonry and rubble scattered in the street, and several burnt-out
vehicles. Earlier images showed flames and smoke, and what appeared to be the
charred remains of the RV.
Donald
Trump has been briefed, according to the White House spokesman Judd Deere, who
said that the president, who is spending the holidays in Florida, will continue
to receive regular updates. The US justice department said the acting attorney
general, Jeff Rosen, was also briefed and directed all department resources be
made available to help with the investigation.
According
to reports in the Tennessean, the blast was felt for miles and triggered a
response from a police bomb squad as well as firefighters and other state and
federal law enforcement officials.
“The
explosion was significant, as you can see, the police department, its federal
partners – the FBI and ATF – are conducting a large-scale investigation to this
point,” said Nashville’s police spokesman. “We do believe that the explosion
was an intentional act.”
Police
later said the incident was linked to a vehicle parked outside a fondue
restaurant, the Melting Pot.
The owner
of the nearby Nashville Downtown hostel told the paper guests were evacuated to
Nissan Stadium for shelter. He said he got a call early on Friday from his
staff reporting hearing a “loud boom” and the fire alarm going off.
Nashville’s
mayor, John Cooper, urged people to stay away from the downtown area, as police
and federal authorities launched their investigation. Cooper said the city was
lucky that the number of injuries was limited.
Governor
Bill Lee of Tennessee said on Twitter that the state would provide the
resources necessary “to determine what happened and who was responsible”.
Andrew
McCabe, a former deputy FBI director, told CNN that an explosion of this size would
be investigated as a possible act of terrorism. He said it was possible police
were the target of the explosions given they were answering a report of a
suspicious vehicle when it blew up.
Buck McCoy,
who lives near the area, posted videos on Facebook that show water pouring down
the ceiling of his home. Alarms blare in the background and cries of people in
great distress ring in the background. A fire is visible in the street outside.
McCoy said
the windows of his home were entirely blown out. “All my windows, every single
one of them got blown into the next room. If I had been standing there it would
have been horrible,” he said.
“It felt
like a bomb. It was that big,” he told the Associated Press. “There were about
four cars on fire. I don’t know if it was so hot they just caught on fire, and
the trees were all blown apart,” McCoy added.
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