TN - RV Explosion, Nashville, 25 Dec 2020

[mrtnira]

A few things:

Reminds me of IRA. They would often warn of attacks to help minimize casualties. I believe they wanted to disrupt rather than cause death (at least to civilians). I'm not saying this is IRA but whoever is responsible might have similar motives.

Yes, and thank you for clarifying your comment. I'm surprised how often a seemingly clear statement gets redirected on the internet.

1. Not for casualties.
2. Material effect.
3. Messaging.

If it were for casualties, it would have happened at a time when people were present, not at 06:30 on a Christmas morning when the streets were empty.

If first responders were the target, there would be no warning with the opportunity to clear the buildings and then withdraw from the blast area before the explosion. The first responders would have been drawn to the bomb site and then it would be set off.

Since the reported target was an established corporate giant (AT&T), there may be a fringe political group involved.
--
Edit: Inobu, it looks like our comments overlapped in time and content.

 

[pocket_of_posies]

This AT&T office, is it simply office space or does it contain important infrastructure? I know systems have been disrupted but is that related to the AT&T building?

Could be a disgruntled employee as Inobu mentioned or could be an intentional attack to disrupt services.

 

[Dallas Volunteer]

Nashville Mayor giving press conference at this time. Also present are Police and Fire chiefs. See link for video:

Large ‘intentional’ explosion damages downtown Nashville Christmas morning | WKRN News 2

 

[pocket_of_posies]

Sounds like they still don't know much.

They found tissue, they aren't sure if it is human remains yet. Investigation is continuing.

 

[whitelilac]

Fire chief said they had to determine whether it was a "dirty bomb" or not. Yikes.

 

[whitelilac]

41 ! buildings damaged, and one collapse.

 

[Dallas Volunteer]

A few notes:

41 businesses materially damaged. Plan to rebuild ASAP.
One building collapsed due to bomb/age of building. Believe fire chief said it was a residential building across the street.
Water lines broke and did damage to buildings.
Catastrophic damage to the historic area.
TEMA to assist FEMA to rebuild 2nd ave. Governor doing emergency order to get resources for rebuild.

Grateful to first responders who ran towards danger to save lives.
6 uniformed officers were at the scene at the time of the blast.
Sounds like 3 officers were injured..they were named but I didn't catch names.
Officers injured are recovering well.
Urban search and rescue still going through area.

No threats received by city leading up to event.

RV played music between recorded announcements.

No known fatalities at this time.

 

[Lusitana]

From what we know, which is not much, this doesn't seem to have people as the target. Whoever did this really tried to make sure people knew an explosion was going to happen.

But if the building was the actual target, why that one? Why not the Batman Building? What was the motive? How many people were in on this? I still haven't seen the video with the recording coming out of the RV, does it sound like a "real" person or does it sound like something digitally generated?

 

[worm]

"Human remains have been found in the area, although it is unclear whether they are those of the suspect or a victim, according to information gathered by the AP. "

Downtown Nashville explosion an intentional act, police say

This could imply that someone was in the RV when it happened if that is remains of a suspect. LE said remains are scattered and they have to determine if in fave it’s a person.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

It could be disgruntled employee but this is a huge bomb that required a ton of time to make. If they were disgruntled, they were disgruntled a long time ago.
Anybody with an agenda, political or otherwise, it seems like they should have claimed it by now. What’s the point of having a cause if nobody knows what it is. Although the destroying communication infrastructure is an interesting thought. I thought of the Unabomber when someone brought that up.

 

[Dallas Volunteer]

I'd like to hear the entire broadcast warning/music from the RV from beginning to end.

 

[fred&edna]

Two law enforcement officials tell The Associated Press that authorities have found human remains in the vicinity of the explosion that rocked downtown Nashville early Christmas morning.

It is unclear how the remains are related to the Friday explosion or whether they might belong to the person believed to be responsible or a victim.



Human remains found near downtown Nashville explosion, police say

 

[dotr]

Huge pics @ link.
Human remains found near RV that exploded outside Nashville AT&T | Daily Mail Online

• ''Human remains have been discovered near the site of a bomb-rigged RV that exploded outside of an AT&T building in Nashville at 6am on Friday morning
• The identity of the remains has not yet been revealed and it is unknown if they could be linked to a potential suspect or to an innocent victim
• The blast happened on 2nd Avenue between Church St and Commerce St at around 6.40am on Friday
• Three people were taken to the hospital with non-serious injuries and there is significant damage
• A cop who was nearby was knocked over by it and has lost his hearing''

 

[worm]

Most of he people that I’ve read of that do these things practice the craft somewhere. East TN/western NC is vast and very rural, a lot of places where it could have been planned.

 

[Dallas Volunteer]

Per WKRN, Police Chief Drake confirmed they found 3 gunshot shells so far in their investigation.

 

[Sheila Terranova]

https://twitter.com/BillGRinehart/status/1342602257502773249?s=19

Update from @CincyPD: The Downtown street closures are because of an RV found near the Federal Building, with the engine running. "Out of an abundance of caution" they're treating it carefully, after what happened in Nashville this morning.

"... we are using Explosive Detection K9s to clear the scene.

At this time there is nothing else indicating there is anything else of a suspicious nature."

It was near a Federal building?????

 

[angelainwi]

All clear given in Cincinnati

 

[Dallas Volunteer]

It was near a Federal building?

Correct. And per CincyPD 15 minutes ago the incident is over:

https://twitter.com/CincyPD/status/1342620753523593224?s=19
The incident on 6th Street has concluded without incident. All roadways have reopened.

 

[PingTheRouter]

i don't get why you'd warn people if this was a terror attack

this seems really odd, maybe aimed at a particular organization they were angry at

whatever it was, it was overkill the street looks like a war zone

Per WKRN, Police Chief Drake confirmed they found 3 gunshot shells so far in their investigation.

i know they said they heard gunshots before it went off right.. the other thing i could think of is the bullets went off from the heat of the explosion

 

[retrometro]

First of all, I'm glad no one was killed or critically hurt. I hope the displaced individuals are able to find somewhere comfortable to spend the holiday.

I'll be curious to see what the investigators find in terms of responsibility and motive. It does sound like the work of a random disgruntled person rather than organized terror/extremism, but the size of the explosion is kind of baffling. I immediately thought of the Prescott Sigmund case from 2002 (guy in Maryland who tried to kill his father with a bomb), but looking it up now, the Sigmund case was just a pipe bomb. Whomever did this clearly had a specific plan.

I'd also be interested to see what the security camera footage shows. If LE knows that it arrived at 1:22am, I'm guessing they know other things about the incident they haven't released yet.