FBI/Police Anthony Warner (l) and a scene from the Nashville police body cam video (r)
The Nashville Metropolitan Police Department has released dramatic body camera video that captures Anthony Quinn Warner’s RV blaring a recorded message before the vehicle blows up.
You can watch the body cam video below, but be aware that it’s disturbing; it captures the harrowing and frightening nature of the scene as the first police officers arrive and try to figure out what they’re dealing with. You see Warner’s RV parked on the side of the road. An officer points out that it’s in front of the AT&T building. It’s blaring the recorded message warning people to evacuate. Then, it detonates, although that part happens off camera. You can hear it. The officers then rush to the debris-laden scene as other emergency vehicles flood the area.
The body cam video starts at 6:14 a.m. on Christmas morning. “Officer Michael Sipos, one of the officers who responded to 2nd Avenue North in downtown #Nashville Christmas Day in the minutes prior to the explosion, had been issued a body camera just days earlier. This is what he saw and heard,” police wrote. Responding officers have been hailed as heroes for putting themselves in harm’s way by helping people evacuate the area.
Here’s the video:
Here’s what you need to know:
The FBI Released a New Image of the Bomber
The FBI’s Memphis office released a new image of the bomber. “The #FBI, @MNPDNashville & @ATFHQ continue to ask that those who may have known Anthony Quinn Warner or encountered him, call 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip online,” the FBI wrote on Twitter.
The FBI also released these photos from the scene.
These photos were taken in #Nashville at the blast site. #FBI and #ATF Evidence Response Teams (ERT) continue to process the scene of the Christmas Day explosion in Nashville, TN. The teams are searching for evidence to assist in the ongoing investigation.
Warner was a 63-year-old Tennessee computer contract worker named as the Nashville bomber who detonated the parked RV in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, on Christmas morning.
Authorities tied human tissue recovered at the blast zone to Warner’s DNA.
“We’ve come to the conclusion that an individual named Anthony Warner is the bomber,” U.S. Attorney Donald Q. Cochran, Jr. declared in a December 27 news conference. Warner was “present when the bomb went off” and “perished in the bombing,” said Cochran.
Authorities Believe Warner Was a Lone Wolf Bomber
FBI/GettyAnthony Quinn Warner, left, and a screengrab of surveillance footage showing the recreational vehicle suspected of being used in the Christmas day bombing on December 25, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee, right.
Authorities also scoured surveillance video and saw no one else near the RV, leading them to believe that Warner acted alone.
“Anthony Warner is the man believed responsible for this horrible crime,” said Nashville Police Chief John Drake.
The motive is still under investigation. WSMV-TV’s Jeremy Finley reported that FBI agents have asked people who knew Warner whether he was “paranoid about 5g spying on Americans.” Asked about the possible 5G motive, authorities said only, “We’re aware of certain things online, and we’re looking at every possible angle.”
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch said forensic scientists processed evidence from the crime scene and compared it to evidence collected from a vehicle used by Warner. They found a DNA “match at both locations,” he said. In part, they used a hat and gloves. Douglas Korneski, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Memphis office, said “human remains discovered at the scene” were Warner’s. “There is no indication that any other persons was involved. We’ve reviewed hours of security video…we saw no other people involved around that vehicle,” he said. Tips from the public proved crucial. A vehicle identification number was unearthed from the blast zone, he said.
Authorities told CNN the explosion was likely a suicide bombing. Authorities said in the news conference that a label of domestic terrorism has to be tied to a political or social ideology. “We haven’t tied to that yet,” they said, as a definite motive remains a mystery so far.
The song “Downtown” by Petula Clark was playing from the RV right before the blast, authorities said. That song’s lyrics start, “When you’re alone and life is making you lonely, you can always go downtown…”
Warner, who was unmarried and childless, was self-employed in the IT area, a neighbor said.
READ NEXT: The Life & Death of Anthony Quinn Warner.