Nashville Explosion: Recording Warned People to 'Evacuate' Before Blast

An explosion occurred Christmas morning in downtown Nashville, damaging the surrounding area. The [...]

By John Newby

An explosion occurred Christmas morning in downtown Nashville, damaging the surrounding area. The authorities have now provided further information about the incident, revealing that they received a warning prior to the explosion. An RV had a recorded message warning of a possible explosion and prompting the evacuation of the area.

Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake held a news conference on Friday and confirmed the existence of the message. He said that officers responded to a report of shots fired in downtown Nashville. They then encountered the RV parked in front of an AT&T transmission building at 166 2nd Avenue North that was playing the recorded message. The officers saw no evidence of shots fired, but they requested the assistance of the hazardous devices unit and began evacuating the surrounding area.

"As they responded, they encountered an RV that had a recording saying that a potential bomb would detonate within 15 minutes," Drake said on Friday. "Officers, upon hearing that, decided to evacuate the buildings nearby." He continued and said that the officers began knocking on doors and delivering the warning to the residents. He also said that the explosion knocked an officer to the ground but that he was fine.

"We do believe this to have been an intentional act," police spokesman Don Aaron told reporters. "Significant damage has been done to the infrastructure there on 2nd Avenue North." The RV exploded at 6:30 a.m. CT as the bomb squad was responding.

Nashville vice mayor Jim Shulman provided more information about the message while speaking with CNN's Anderson Cooper. He said that a female voice was speaking. "There were a number of people who did evacuate and then we know of some people, it didn't go off when the message said it would and so people started coming back in, and then it went off," he explained.

The explosion in downtown Nashville shattered windows on nearby buildings and set multiple cars on fire. Nearby trees were toppled and blackened. Additionally, alarms could be heard going off in the nearby damaged buildings. Water also came pouring into the buildings due to damaged pipes.

Nashville Fire spokesman Joseph Pleasant confirmed that the explosion injured three people — although none suffered life-threatening injuries. They were all transported to area hospitals. Eyewitness Buck McCoy also said that multiple people nearby were not injured but did appear to be in shock after the explosion.

The investigation is ongoing following the early morning explosion. The police spokesman in Aaron said that both local and federal agencies, including the FBI and ATF are taking part. Police and Tennessee Highway Patrol are conducting a shutdown of the area for the investigation.

0comments
Start the Conversation

of