A warning to 'evacuate now' and then an explosion in Nashville on Christmas Day

By Rich McKay and Katanga Johnson

 

A vehicle burns near the site of an explosion in the area of Second and Commerce in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. December 25, 2020. Andrew Nelles/Tennessean.com/USA TODAY NETWORK via REUTERS.

 

(Reuters) -A recording from a recreational vehicle emitted a chilling warning minutes before it all exploded, rocking downtown Nashville at dawn on Christmas Day and lightly injuring three people in what police described as an "intentional act."

 

"This area must be evacuated now. This area must be evacuated now. If you can hear this message, evacuate now. If you can hear this message, evacuate now" went the recording for several minutes, broadcast later on NewsChannel5, Nashville.

 

Police described the vehicle, parked in the heart of Tennessee's capital city at 6 a.m. CST (1200 GMT) on Friday, as an RV, a recreational vehicle of a type that could range from a motor home to a camper trailer.

 

Nashville Police Chief John Drake said the announcement warned the "bomb would explode in 15 minutes."

 

About the same time, police received an emergency call of "shots fired" in the downtown tourist area, said Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron. After arriving, they called in the bomb squad, which was on its way when the explosion occurred.

 

The blast ravaged the heart of the city, considered the capital of U.S. country music. It destroyed several other vehicles and severely damaged several buildings, launching black smoke into the sky that could be seen for miles.

 

Fire officials said three people suffered minor injuries.

 

Moments before the blast, police officers went door-to-door in nearby buildings to hustle residents to safety and motioned a man walking his dog near the vehicle to change direction.

 

"Obviously, they heard the announcements coming from this vehicle," Aaron told reporters. "They took them seriously. And worked to seal the streets to protect folks and we think it worked." He called the blast "an intentional act."

 

Andrew McCabe, a former deputy FBI director, told CNN an explosion of this size would be investigated as a possible act of terrorism, whether domestic or international.

 

Police said it was unclear if anyone was inside the vehicle and the motive was unclear. McCabe said police may have been the target of the explosions given they were called to the scene before the blast.

 

Most of the buildings on the tree-lined street with shops and offices were closed given the hour and Christmas holiday.

 

The explosion, which could be heard for miles and felt nine blocks away, knocked one officer off his feet and caused what was hoped to be only a temporary hearing loss, the police spokesman said.

 

"There was trees lying everywhere, glass laying everywhere," Nashville resident Buck McCoy told CNN.

 

Nashville Mayor John Cooper urged people to stay away from the downtown area, as police and federal authorities investigated, aided by bomb dogs and surveillance camera footage.

 

President Donald Trump was briefed on the explosion, a White House spokesman said.

 

Car bombings in the United States are rare.

 

A 1995 truck bombing in Oklahoma City killed 168 people including 19 children, and wounded hundreds. Timothy McVeigh was executed by lethal injection in June 2001 for the attack.

 

In April 2010, a food vendor foiled an attempt to set off a car bomb in New York's Time Square.

 

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta and Katanga Johnson in Washington; Editing by Howard Goller)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-12-26

 

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Either a distraction, from what I don't know,

Or most likely an attempt to bring attention to a particular issue , and perhaps attempt to force concessions, without alienating the publick, in which case there is more to come. 

www.wsmv.com%2Fnews%2Fauthorities-find-human-remains-near-rv-sources-tell-news

Wonder what flavor nutter this one is very happy no one was killed  and not related to the thread merry Christmas to all

Edited December 25, 20205 yr by Tug

This could be a trial run for something even bigger.   Either that or someone really doesn't like Country Music.

 

They still haven't figured out who did this.  But if the bomber(s) turn out to be white nationalists, Proud Boys, or some other Trump supporting group, I'll bet Trump won't condemn them.  Trump never criticizes his hardcore supporters, regardless of how heinous the act.  He might even cease on it...."Re-elect me or more bombs will go off!"

Troll post removed

Not sure what to make of this?

 

It was directly in front of a AT&T CO (Central Office), a very large one (so a regional hub), but those buildings are relatively hardened. While there were network outtages those may have been due to capacity issues?

 

Was thinking distraction for something else - holiday weekend robbery - but that could be accomplished less dramatically.

 

The perpetrator(s) seemed to want to avoid casualties, so a bit confusing.

 

 

2 hours ago, Berkshire said:

They still haven't figured out who did this.  But if the bomber(s) turn out to be white nationalists, Proud Boys, or some other Trump supporting group, I'll bet Trump won't condemn them.  Trump never criticizes his hardcore supporters, regardless of how heinous the act.  He might even cease on it...."Re-elect me or more bombs will go off!"

 

  Its better to wait and find out who did it and then also wait to see whether Trump condemns them .

No need to wait to Trump to comment though, may as well make up some quotes by him ?

The chances of Trump saying what you predicted are practically non existent 

1 hour ago, mtls2005 said:

Not sure what to make of this?

 

It was directly in front of a AT&T CO (Central Office), a very large one (so a regional hub), but those buildings are relatively hardened. While there were network outtages those may have been due to capacity issues?

 

Was thinking distraction for something else - holiday weekend robbery - but that could be accomplished less dramatically.

 

The perpetrator(s) seemed to want to avoid casualties, so a bit confusing.

 

 

 

  Could be from a group that believes 5G causes Covid ?

4 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

 

  Could be from a group that believes 5G causes Covid ?

What happened to ;

” it’s better to wait to find out who did it “ 

in your previous post ??

With trace residues from the bomb all over the place, forensic should be able to find the perpetrators soon. Will breakdown of domestic incidents be a valid excuse to invoke martial law and delay the inauguration. Bet that kind of idea not far from minds of those lunatics who has Trump’s ears. 

11 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

What happened to ;

” it’s better to wait to find out who did it “ 

in your previous post ??

 

  The bomb was placed outside a Telephone company , seems likely they were the targets .

5G operators have been attacked in the past .

Its a distinct possibility that they were deliberately targeted .Berkshire was just apportioning blame for no reasons at all , like , pick a group he doesnt like and blame them

One of the very few industries to see sales increase significantly during Covid is the RV market.  https://pressofatlanticcity.com/business/the-rv-industry-has-received-an-unexpected-boost-from-the-covid-19-pandemic/article_0f628418-11c5-5438-9fdf-36f1f1b30d78.html  Sort of makes me wonder if a lot of these RVs might be put to alternative uses.

3 hours ago, Berkshire said:

They still haven't figured out who did this.  But if the bomber(s) turn out to be white nationalists, Proud Boys, or some other Trump supporting group, I'll bet Trump won't condemn them.  Trump never criticizes his hardcore supporters, regardless of how heinous the act.  He might even cease on it...."Re-elect me or more bombs will go off!"

 

And what if it turns out to be BLM or anti-fa? Will Biden condemn them?

4 minutes ago, John Drake said:

 

And what if it turns out to be BLM or anti-fa? Will Biden condemn them?

I’m sure he’ll condemn the bomber(s) whoever they are.

 

If you have information on who they were contact the FBI.

 

 

I read about it late yesterday evening on the Guardian website...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/25/explosion-nashville-intentional-act-police-say

Edited December 27, 20205 yr by onthedarkside
quote of hidden post removed

Seems human remains have been found. My wild guess is a suicide who wanted to go out doing a lot of damage but not harm anyone else. 

1 hour ago, Bluespunk said:

I read about it late yesterday evening on the Guardian website...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/25/explosion-nashville-intentional-act-police-say

Time-stamped 2326hrs GMT which is about the time I got up this morning and was my point.

Edited December 26, 20205 yr by evadgib

4 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Time-stamped 2326hrs GMT which is about the time I got up this morning...

None the less I read  about it here yesterday (Middle East). I read it between 8.00pm and 9.00 pm here, which is early evening in Uk.

 

Follow up story is in today’s website.
 

It was not ignored or not covered in a timely manner.  

Edited December 26, 20205 yr by Bluespunk

Ah the holidays, brings out all the fruitcakes.

 

 

9 hours ago, Berkshire said:

They still haven't figured out who did this.  But if the bomber(s) turn out to be white nationalists, Proud Boys, or some other Trump supporting group, I'll bet Trump won't condemn them.  Trump never criticizes his hardcore supporters, regardless of how heinous the act.  He might even cease on it...."Re-elect me or more bombs will go off!"

 

Absolute twaddle. 

12 hours ago, sirineou said:

Either a distraction, from what I don't know,

Or most likely an attempt to bring attention to a particular issue , and perhaps attempt to force concessions, without alienating the publick, in which case there is more to come. 

Hhhhmn. Care to be more precise?

1 hour ago, Nout said:

Hhhhmn. Care to be more precise?

Not really. Like everyone else I am using the limited information provided in the news to form an uneducated opinion, future development will either prove me right or wrong. let's see. 

By the way I misspelled "Public"  why would I put a "K" at the end of public? Hope not the sign of early set dementia.  

7 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Not really. Like everyone else I am using the limited information provided in the news to form an uneducated opinion, future development will either prove me right or wrong. let's see. 

By the way I misspelled "Public"  why would I put a "K" at the end of public? Hope not the sign of early set dementia.  

'Uneducated opinion'. You said it not me.

4 minutes ago, Nout said:

'Uneducated opinion'. You said it not me.

Don't think that your reply was clever in the least. 

I am willing to accurate assess my opinions,and allow for adjustments as needed It is a trait that has bought me  a certain level of success in life. I suggest the same to you.

16 hours ago, sirineou said:

Either a distraction, from what I don't know,

Or most likely an attempt to bring attention to a particular issue , and perhaps attempt to force concessions, without alienating the publick, in which case there is more to come. 

How prophetic you turned out to be. Uncanny!

Reported by Newsweek at 8.17 EST (7.17 CST/Nashville)

 

47 mins after explosion at 6.30 CST.

 

22.00 Thailand would be 9.00 CST.

 

Bizzarrely the video roundup at the head of the page commenced with footage concerning this years big Beirut blast:

https://www.newsweek.com/nashville-tennessee-explosion-building-collapse-fire-1557290

I guess it's OK to speculate about who did the deed but there really isn't anything particularly compelling that would point to any group in particular. My guess is a spectacular suicide. 

Nashville explosion: Businesses and celebrities pledge $315,000 reward

Quote

Local businesses and TV personalities have offered more than $300,000 (£224,000) to catch those responsible for a camper van blast in Nashville.