CHILLING new images show the site of a devastating bombing in Nashville on Christmas Day is still an abandoned shell four years on from the tragedy.
More than 60 buildings were extensively damaged, and one person – the bomber – was killed in the shocking blast on Christmas Day in 2020.
Mystery still surrounds the events of that day, with authorities admitting there is no way to know for sure whether they could have prevented the blast.
Bomber Anthony Warner is believed to have parked his RV in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, early on Christmas morning, detonating a powerful homemade bomb at around 6:30 am on Second Avenue North.
Before the explosion, an eerie audio recording counting down to detonation and the Petula Clark song Downtown were heard coming from the RV.
That gave police just enough time to evacuate all the nearby buildings, although the force of the blast still injured three people.
The blast damaged 41 businesses and displaced 400 people, leaving an enormous crater at the scene.
Warner’s remains were discovered in the debris following the explosion.
Four years later, the city is still coming to terms with the explosion and its aftermath. There is no clear timeline for what to do with the downtown site.
The site, including the four-story former Old Spaghetti Factory, is still a vacant shell of a building despite long-term plans to renovate it.
Construction on extensive site renovations is expected to begin in the summer of 2025. The goal is to complete everything by late 2026.
Until then, the century-old historic site will remain a bombed-out ruin.
Warner’s motives for the blast are still unclear.
Some 16 months before the blast, a friend called 911 alleging that Warner “might be building a bomb.”
The blast occurred as many of the area’s independent businesses were already reeling from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Warner, 63, had no criminal record other than a two-year probation served for felony marijuana possession in 1978.
Dec 25, 2020
Dec 26 – Cops search Warner’s home
Dec 27 – Warner officially named as bomber
He had been involved in a family dispute that ended up in court over the transferred ownership of a property to himself directly before the death of his brother Steve in 2018.
However, that case was dismissed the following year.
His girlfriend had also warned police that she believed he was building a bomb in his RV, but that, too, was dismissed.
On August 21, 2019, the girlfriend told Nashville police that Warner “was building bombs in the RV trailer at his residence,” according to the Nashville Police.
The information was forwarded to the FBI, but no serious investigations were conducted.
Today, Nashville residents are still at a loss as to what provoked the bizarre attack or who the intended targets were of Warner’s assault.
