The Tennessee ‘computer geek’ behind the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville was a chronic loner who built a fence around his home to keep others out, according to a report.
Anthony Quinn Warner, 63, increasingly shut himself off before the bombing, Tennessean neighbors said.
Just a few weeks ago, Warner built a gate in the fence, pulled his RV into the driveway and locked the gate, neighbors told the newspaper.
The same vehicle authorities said Warner was packed with explosives on Friday and indicated in the city. He killed himself and injured three.
“You never saw anyone come and go,” neighbor Steve Schmoldt told the Tennessean. ‘Never saw him where he was going. As far as we know, he was a kind of computer fellow who worked from home. ‘
He describes his longtime neighbor as “a little strange.”
Schmoldt said neighbors did not even notice when the RV disappeared from Warner’s driveway.
“To be honest, we did not really pay attention … it was gone until the FBI and ATF showed up,” he said.
The blast at 6:30 a.m. outside an AT&T facility in Nashville damaged 41 buildings, causing a major disruption to communications systems, which obscured even 911 centers in surrounding counties, the Tennessean said.
Government Bill Lee issued an emergency statement on Saturday calling for federal aid for businesses affected by the blast, he posted on Twitter.
A junction remained until Sunday, though downtown was limited.
According to authorities, DNA samples confirmed that Warner was killed in the blast.
Warner grew up in Antioch outside of Nashville and graduated from Antioch High School in the mid-1970s, starting in the area with IT work, the report said.
He once charged with the law in 1978, when he was charged with drug possession, and sentenced to two years in prison.
Charlie Bozman, high school golf coach, for whom Warner played, remembered him as a quiet and modest student.
“What I can remember about him was essentially three things: quiet, polite, and – I do not like to use the term – but honestly nerds,” Bozman said.
But over the past few weeks, Warner appears to be settling accounts.
Property records checked by the Tennessean show that Warner transferred ownership of his longtime home to a California woman the day before Thanksgiving.
Warner, who worked as an IT consultant at a local brokerage firm, emailed the company’s co-owner earlier this month.
“In December, he sent us an email saying he would no longer work for us,” said Steve Fridrich of Fridrich & Clark Realty, for whom Warner had worked for nearly five years.
He never gave a reason.
Police are now questioning acquaintances about reports that Warner feared for 5G technology but had yet to attribute a motive to the bombing.