Posted on 12/27/2020 2:59:07 PM PST by BenLurkin
The violent explosion that rocked downtown Nashville, Tenn., on Christmas morning is believed to be a suicide bombing by Anthony Q. Warner, 63, U.S. Attorney Don Cochran said Sunday.
Authorities continue to ask those who knew or encountered the suspect to contact the FBI. The agency is still investigating, but there is no indication that anyone else was involved, Cochran said.
Officials said DNA testing of human remains on the scene matched to Warner. They said no other threats were known against the city but wouldn't comment on possible motives for the bombing.
According to NPR member station WPLN, Warner had owned a home in the suburban Nashville community of Antioch that was searched on Saturday by federal officials.
The investigation into the bombing has brought hundreds of law enforcement personnel — including agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — into the Tennessee capital to comb through the wreckage and investigate more than 500 leads.
The Friday morning blast came from an RV parked outside an AT&T building. No fatalities were reported, but three people were hospitalized for their injuries and dozens of buildings were damaged.
The effects of the blast were still being felt more than 48 hours later. Some police and hospital communications systems are still out in some areas of Tennessee, as well as in neighboring states.
City officials on Sunday credited the city's police officers for their quick work to evacuate the area, averting potential tragedy.
"Their actions saved lives," Mayor John Cooper said. "They may consider what they did was just a regular part of their duties. But we in Nashville know it was extraordinary."
Speaking to reporters Sunday morning, police described the scene they encountered upon responding to a 911 call shortly before the bomb went off that reported shots fired in the area. Soon after officers arrived, a recorded female voice started sounding from the RV, warning it was going to explode. A countdown began.
"At that moment, it felt real," said officer James Wells, who has been with the force for less than two years. Wells said he noticed cameras attached to the RV.
"It felt like whoever was behind it was watching," he recalled. Wells said he looked around to make sure no one was secretly watching them. Mentally, he started preparing for a possible shootout.
"All of the cop lingo that you hear about — the spider senses, about the hair standing up on the back of your neck — all that went through my body," said Wells.
At one point, the RV started playing a recording of the song "Downtown" by Petula Clark. Then it switched back to the countdown, then back to the music. Some of the officers returned to their cars, blocking roads to set up a perimeter. A police sergeant ordered an evacuation, and officers started knocking on doors to get people out.
After knocking on doors, Wells said he went back to his car and pulled it back farther to get out of blast radius. He then got out of his car and started walking toward the RV. Suddenly, Wells said, he heard the voice of God telling him to turn around and check on Officer Amanda Topping, who was by herself on Broadway Street.
"It felt like I only took three steps," Wells said.
Suddenly, the music stopped.
"I just see orange," Wells recalled. "And then I hear a loud boom. And as I'm stumbling — 'cuz it rocked me that hard — I start stumbling, I just tell myself to stay on your feet, stay alive."
Meanwhile, Topping was walking toward Wells. Suddenly, an explosion pierced the calm.
"I just saw the biggest flames I've ever seen," Topping recalled. "I'll never forget the windows shattering after the blast all around me."
"I felt a push," said Officer Michael Sipos. "I was thrown into the trunk, a little bit. I turned around to see a very orange sky, and a lot of smoke." Officer Brenna Hosey said she was knocked to the ground.
Topping felt the wave of heat, she said, motioning to her face. She couldn't see Wells, who was close to the blast. She took off in a sprint, eventually finding Wells, who told her to take out her gun. The two of them grabbed each other and ducked into a doorway to prepare for whatever might happen next.
"It just felt like something out of a movie," Wells recalled. Another officer was yelling at him, asking him to do something — but he had temporary hearing loss from the blast. An ambulance wanted to take him to the hospital, but when Wells learned that three people were injured, he told the paramedics to check on the civilians first.
Wells, who said he's a spiritual person, credited his survival to the voice in his head that told him to walk in the opposite direction.
"That's what saved my life," Wells said. "That's what got me to see my kids and my wife on Christmas. 'Good to see you' has a completely different meaning to me now."
Wells said the experience will tie him to his fellow officers for the rest of their life. After the press conference was over, Wells and Hosey embraced. For several seconds, they stood in silence, simply holding each other.
NPR's John Burnett and Reese Oxner contributed to this report.
“Or she’s his daughter. What do we know about Ms Swing’s parentage?”
Maybe. Mail Online is saying that police think that Warner and Swing’s mother might have had a relationship.
“And women talk.”
Usually. Although I don’t think that Lueck did.
If Michelle Swing and Warner had an innocent reason to know each other I’d think that she would have told the press by now and she’s not talking. But maybe she’s just a private person and hates all of the unsought attention.
One reason that I suspect the sugar baby angle is that romantic obsession is known to make people act crazy, up to and including suicide. Warner doesn’t seem to have had any of the usual interests that accompany firing off a bomb. No politics, no religion, no Unabomber manifesto. I just don’t see the blood relation possibility one that would prompt him to do it either.
I think the motivation for the suicide bombing is unrelated to the house transfers. It is common for people contemplating suicide to put their affairs in order.
I just hope this doesn’t spark a bunch of poor quality copycats also trying to go out with a bang.
The first quit claim that deeded the mother’s house to Swing occurred in January 2019. There’s no evidence that Swing knew that this was going to happen and it could have been done without her knowledge.
The mother sued Warner over that house transfer and Swing ended up deeding the house over to Warner’s mother in July 2019.
So Swing definitely knew about Warner by summer of 2019 although she’s supposedly told investigators that she never met him.
The second quit claim deeding his own house to Swing occurred last November 25th and Swing has said that she doesn’t know about that transfer either. New York Post is reporting that they have a copy of a letter that Warner sent to Swing telling her about the second quit claim. Maybe she never read it. Who knows. You could be right that the Swing stuff is unrelated to the suicide.
As near as I can tell the “family” home passed from the father Charles to the son Stephen who died intestate and then the (suspect) Tony used a POA to deed it to himself and then quitclaimed it to Swing four months after his brother’s death for which his mother sued him.
This is interesting only in that it demonstrates that while providing for the wife/mother they were also bypassing her and their younger sister in any inheritance. I also read that the 2nd house was also once owned by the older brother.
I’d love to know what was in the basement mentioned in the letter.
At this stage, I wouldn’t be surprised if the DNA linked Stephen Paddock to the case.
I agree.
That sounds correct regarding the spiderweb of ownership changes for the mother’s house. Warner’s cryptic remark about the basement of his own house will have everyone thinking “Silence of of the Lambs” until we find out what it actually means.
Swing undoubtedly holds the answers to some of this mystery and probably has told investigators. Doesn’t mean that we will get to know how and why she is caught up in this mess. That’s going to take reporters snooping around and getting people to talk.
He was a very good man who flinched from very little.
I had to assume that he was suffering mightily, and I didn’t judge him. I figure that’s up to God.
From what little I’ve seen, he doesn’t seem to fit that ‘profile’.
I am going to guess that he built or customized the basement for her hobby, whatever that might be or created a game/play room for her child.
I wonder what happened to his dogs?
Swing has a child? I hadn’t spotted that.
Some of the tabloids refer to her as a mom, but make no mention of the actual child, so I’m not super sure of that detail.
I see that the WSJ openly mentions that Swing told the FBI that she assumed he gifted property to her because of his former romantic relationship with her mother, but nobody is asking (or answering) whether he is her father.
Twitter’s answer to the “what’s in his basement?” question - Biden
I bet he had the dogs with him in the RV.
How very sad.
A former relationship with Swing’s mother at least explains how he knew Swing. Warner’s mother probably would have mentioned Swing being her granddaughter if Swing was Warner’s daughter.
One of the first reports that I heard about body parts being found mentioned that they weren’t sure that they were human. So likely his dogs.
Maybe Warner had convinced himself he was her father or just wished he had been. What a sad and lonely life.
I can’t imagine an animal lover doing that. And I think we heard previously from someone that he no longer had dogs.
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