FBI, ATF Police Raid Nashville House Linked to Christmas Day RV Bombing

Law enforcement officers investigate the house previously belonging to Anthony Quinn Warner, a 63-year-old man who has been reported to be of interest in the Nashville RV bombing, in Nashville, Tenn., on Dec. 26, 2020. Terry Wyatt/Getty Images

The FBI and ATF police on Saturday raided a house located in a Nashville suburb linked to the Nashville downtown RV bombing that happened on Christmas morning.

The home of interest is located on Bakertown Road in Antioch—a neighborhood approximately 12 miles southeast of Nashville, Tenn.

Various videos show that several federal and local agencies, including the FBI, ATF police, and Metro Nashville Police Department joined the raid.

FBI Public Affairs Officer Darrell DeBusk told reporters on the scene that information developed during the course of the investigation had led the authorities to the home.

DeBusk said no one is in custody for now.

FBI and ATF agents search a home in Nashville, Tenn., on Dec. 26, 2020. Mark Humphrey/AP Photo

Public records show the house was previously owned by Anthony Q. Warner, an unmarried male. He recently sold the house on Nov. 25.

A Google Maps image taken back in May 2019 shows a Chateau motorhome parked on the lot of the house of interest, which is similar to the one in the photo released by the Metro Nashville Police Department that reportedly exploded in Nashville downtown. The Epoch Times cannot confirm if the RV in the lot is the same as the one that exploded.

It’s unclear where Warner was living before the explosion.

A Google Maps image taken in May 2019 shows a motorhome parked in the lot of the house of interest similar to the one in the photo released by the Metro Nashville Police Department. Screenshot via Google Maps

Several media outlets, including CBS News and The Tennessean, have identified Warner as a person of interest, citing sources from the law enforcement department. The Metro Nashville Police Department didn’t immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request to confirm the reports.

The FBI refused to comment on reports of Warner being identified as the alleged person of interest.

Special agent in charge of the FBI Memphis Field Office, Douglas Korneski, told reporters, “At this point, we don’t have any indication that we are looking for another subject.

“We do believe there are currently no active threats,” he added.

Warning: Viewers may find the video content to be disturbing.

An RV exploded at around 6:30 a.m. CT on Friday in front of 166 2nd Ave N in downtown Nashville. The explosion shook the largely deserted streets of the area early Christmas morning, shattering windows, damaging buildings, and wounding three people. Authorities said they believed the blast was intentional.

The motive behind this incident is unclear.

“I don’t want to speculate but he would think that this person didn’t want to harm people, maybe just wanted to destroy. But we’re not sure until we get further into the investigation,” Metro Nashville Police Department Chief of Police John Drake said on Friday.

The Metro Nashville Police Department released a photo of the suspected RV on Friday. Police said later on that they found possible human remains at the explosion site. It’s unclear if the tissue belongs to someone in the RV during the explosion or another person. The police have yet to confirm if there were people in the RV during the explosion.

This image taken from a surveillance video provided by Metro Nashville PD shows a recreational vehicle that was involved in a blast in Nashville, Tenn. on Dec. 25, 2020. Metro Nashville Police Department

The explosion, which happened at the backdoor of an AT&T building, appears to have caused huge damage to the building and brought sweeping communications outages to the Nashville downtown area.

Police emergency systems in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama, as well as Nashville’s COVID-19 community hotline and a handful of hospital systems, have been impacted and remained out of service due to the AT&T central office being affected by the blast. The building contained a telephone exchange, with network equipment in it. The company has declined to say exactly how many people have been impacted.

Flights out of Nashville International Airport (BNA) were temporarily halted on Friday by the FAA because of telecommunications issues. They resumed with delays Friday late afternoon.

Debris litters the road near the site of an explosion in the area of Second and Commerce in Nashville, Tenn., on Dec. 25, 2020. Elliott Anderson/Tennessean.com/USA Today via Reuters

AT&T said the company is working along with safety and structural engineers to restore power to the equipment at the damaged site, which has become their focus after the explosion.

“We continue to make progress in our restoration following this devastating explosion. We are completing our work as quickly and as safely as possible. We are beginning to restore power to the facilities in the building after connecting generators through the walls. We are hopeful this equipment may be back online in the hours ahead,” the company said in a statement on Saturday afternoon.

The company refused to say whether Warner was an AT&T employee or contractor.

The Associated Press contributed to the report.