One of the cops who responded to the scene of an explosion in Nashville, Tennessee described a surreal detail about the incident. Officer James Luellen said in a press conference on Sunday that the 1964 Petula Clark song “Downtown” played from the RV in some of the time before the vehicle went off.
You can see Officer Tyler Luellen elaborate on this this beginning at about 30:50 in the video above.
The song details just adds another question on top of all the others. Who was responsible for the vehicle explosion that rocked downtown Nashville on Friday (Christmas) morning? What is the motive behind this? Law enforcement officials searched the home of a person of interest identified as Anthony Quinn Warner.
Neighbor Steve Schmoldt told The Tennessean that “You never saw anyone come and go” from Warner’s home.
“Never saw him go anywhere,” he said. “As far as we knew, he was kind of a computer geek that worked at home.”
Nashville Police Chief John Drake said on Friday that possible human remains were found at the site of the RV explosion, but no deaths were immediately announced, just injuries.
Authorities think the explosion could have been a suicide, said two law enforcement sources cited by CNN in a Saturday report.
Nashville Police Chief John Drake says investigators have found “tissue that we believe could be [human] remains” at the site of the downtown explosion. No fatalities from the blast have been confirmed https://t.co/MKapXtClR1 pic.twitter.com/15IgVtx9iI
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 25, 2020
During this morning’s news conference, Chief John Drake again emphasized that Nashville is safe and that there are no known threats against our city. The investigation into Friday’s explosion is on 2nd Ave N is meaningfully progressing. pic.twitter.com/vYlDQ3BLW1
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) December 27, 2020
The press conference on Sunday was in part to honor the six officers credited with securing the scene and evacuating nearby buildings before the explosion. Luellen said there was a call of shots fired. The RV in question began playing a repeating announcement along the lines of there being a bomb in the vehicle and telling people to evacuate.
Officer Breanna Hosey expressed what she and Luellen experienced when they heard the RV announcement to evacuate.
“Kind of had that confused look on,” she said, “‘Is this really what we’re hearing right now?'”
Luellen said he examined the RV after the beginning of the announcement. The shades on the vehicle were down, and he did not notice any tags, he said. Luellen said he did not see anyone in or around the vehicle.
Officer James Wells said he saw surveillance cameras on the RV.
“It felt like whoever was behind it was watching,” he said.
Officer Michael Sipos, Officer Amanda Topping, and Sgt. Timothy Miller were also credited with responding to the scene.
[Image of suspect vehicle via Metro Nashville Police Department]
