A Christmas morning explosion that rocked downtown Nashville, injuring at least three people and damaging dozens of buildings, is believed to be an intentional act, authorities said.
According to police, officers with the Metro Nashville Police Department were responding to a call of
shots fired around 5:30 a.m. CT Friday when they came upon an RV parked in front of an AT&T
transmission building at 166 2nd Avenue North.
The RV was playing a recorded message that indicated a bomb would explode in 15 minutes, MetroNashville Police Chief John Drake said during a news conference Friday.
Officers saw no immediate evidence of shots fired but they requested the department’s hazardous
devices unit and started to evacuate neighborhood residents, police said.\
The RV was playing a recorded message that indicated a bomb would explode in 15 minutes, Metro
Nashville Police Chief John Drake said during a news conference Friday.
Officers saw no immediate evidence of shots fired but they requested the department’s hazardous
devices unit and started to evacuate neighborhood residents, police said.
Acting US Attorney General Jeff Rosen was briefed on the incident, according to his spokesman, “anddirected that all DOJ resources be made available to assist in the investigation.”
The White House said that President Donald Trump has been briefed as well and would receive “regular
updates.”
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said in a statement on Twitter that the state would “supply all the resources
needed” to determine the cause of the explosion.
Eyewitness Buck McCoy told CNN the explosion took place right in front of his home, causing his
windows to be blown in.
“Everything on the street was on fire,” he said. “There were three cars that were fully engulfed.”
McCoy said he was originally woken up by what he believed were gunshots prior to the explosion. He
got up and looked out the window, he said, but went back to bed when he didn’t see anything.
Asked if the noise he heard could have been something other than gunfire, McCoy emphasized that he
believed it was, saying he owns a gun and goes shooting, so he’s familiar with the sound of gunshots.
McCoy told CNN that when he looked outside after the explosion, trees had fallen and broken glass was
everywhere. He saw people filing out of their apartments with their animals. Firefighters told him to get
as far away from the area as possible, he said.
“There’s just nothing left on 2nd Avenue,” he said.
Emergency personnel work at the scene of the explosion.
‘Lives were saved’ by evacuations
Prior to the explosion, officers had gone door-to-door or apartment-to-apartment to inform residents of
the situation, Aaron said. One man walking a dog on 2nd Avenue was redirected by an officer just before
the RV exploded.
“We think lives were saved by those officers doing just that,” Aaron said Friday afternoon.
Technical experts from the FBI lab and evidence response teams have been brought in from around the
country to “help process this massive crime scene,” Foster said.
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ATF Special Agent in Charge Mickey French said his agency had activated its national response teams
and was working alongside the FBI and MNPD. The agency has explosive specialists, chemists and
engineers involved in the evidence recovery process.
\
Officials with the Nashville Fire Department are in the area to assess the structural integrity of buildings
and ensure there are no other victims, Chief William Swann said.
Smoke rises from downtown Nashville after an explosion.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper told CNN that dozens of buildings have been damaged, mostly from
having glass blown out. Some buildings have been evacuated, the mayor said, but he did not know how
many buildings or how many people had been impacted.
“Right now, there’s just a whole lot of glass damage on 2nd Avenue,” he said.
The street is on the edge of the Tennessee city’s hospitality and tourist district in an old, historic part of
town.
Cooper told CNN affiliate WSMV that the explosion was “clearly done when no one was going to be
around.”
“Fortunately not many people are here,” he said.
AT&T spokesman Jim Greer told CNN that the company’s network hub was damaged in the explosion
and service in the Nashville area may be affected.
CNN’s parent company, WarnerMedia, is owned by AT&T. ( CNN / IM )
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