According to federal investigators, the suspect was killed in the Christmas Day bomb blast in Nashville.
According to FBI investigators, DNA evidence found at the scene is similar to Anthony Quinn Warner, who was previously named as a person of interest.
“Anthony Warner is the man who is believed to be responsible for this heinous crime,” John Drake, Nashville police chief, told a news conference.
Human remains were discovered amid the blast, and investigators worked to determine if it belonged to the RV owner. Several law enforcement sources informed about the investigation told ABC News the suspect has been identified as Warner of Antioch, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville.
Douglas Korneski, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s field office in Memphis, told reporters that investigators were able to make the match fast after finding DNA at Warner’s home.
Federal agents arrived at properties in Antioch connected to Warner on Saturday to conduct court-authorized investigations, sources told ABC News. A Google Maps street view of Warner’s address shows an RV, similar to the one used in the blast, in an enclosed section of the yard.
According to Korneski, there are apparently no other suspects involved in the bombing, but the investigation continues.
Authorities believe the RV was parked in front of an AT&T transmission building at 1:22 a.m. Friday, but it is still unclear if the building was targeted. The Tennessee Highway Patrol confirmed that the RV’s VIN was registered with Warner.
While investigators are working to determine what motivated Warner to leave the explosive, they are also trying to determine if the AT&T building where the RV was parked was Warner’s target.
Several law enforcement sources told ABC News that investigators are seriously investigating whether Warner was possibly, at least in part, motivated by paranoia about 5G cellular technology.
However, the sources warn that Warner’s alleged paranoia may have extended to a range of things, including the existence of life in outer space.
Investigators are pouring out Warner’s medical history for clues about his mood after Christmas, according to sources.
Korneski said his team does not know what Warner’s alleged motives were, but that they are “aware of certain things online, and we are looking at every possible motive.” He appealed to anyone who knows Warner or has information to use the FBI’s tip line.
“This information will help us determine the suspect’s motive,” he said.
More than 250 FBI personnel from at least seven field offices are investigating in Nashville, including special agents, analysts and professional staff, who conduct interviews, gather evidence and coordinate with partner agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms. and explosives and state and local investigators.
The high-stakes drama began unfolding around 6 a.m. Friday when officers working in the late night shift received a call of shots fired at a building in 178 Second Avenue North 178, officials said.
Police officers in Nashville are considered heroes to save lives during a massive Christmas morning bombing, which on Sunday described their swift action to evacuate buildings against a terrifying explosion that led to the explosion and the Petula Clark song “Downtown “coming from a recreational vehicle. stuffed with explosives.
“Immediately they did not think of their own lives. They did not think of themselves. They thought of the citizens of Nashville and to protect them, and they went to knock on doors,” said Chief Drake when he five of the six officers at a news conference. “If they had not made the effort, we would be talking about the tragedy of people and lives lost.”
The police officers of the subway in Nashville, James Luellen, Brenna Hosey, Michael Sipos, Amanda Topping, James Wells and ao. Timothy Miller was described by Drake and Nashville Mayor John Cooper as ‘heroes’.
“I think they may have considered what they were doing was just a regular part of their duties. But we in Nashville know it was extraordinary, and it’s exciting to have it in our community, and we have to acknowledge their heroism. , “Cooper had previously said. each officer told of the bombing that damaged at least 41 buildings, set several vehicles on fire and left a huge crater in Second Avenue North.
Officer Luellen said he was the first one at the scene, and began investigating the gunfire building and requesting the security code to enter. He said the moment Officer Hosey arrived on the scene to back him up, a recorded voice from the RV parked on the street began to issue an urgent warning.
“The RV started making an announcement somewhere, don’t quote me exactly, but it’s: ‘There’s a big bomb in this vehicle. Your main goal is to evacuate,'” Luellen said. “I was not quite sure what I heard, so I looked at Officer Hosey just to verify that we were hearing the same thing, and then it started again.”
He said he was his supervisor, ao. Miller, who told him to ask every available officer to come to the scene and evacuate residents.
When officers began closing Topping and Wells streets in the area, Luellen, Hosey and Sipos entered an apartment building and started knocking on doors, warning residents of a possible public safety hazard outside. He said residents of about six or seven apartments were then instructed to evacuate a back basement door.
Luellen said he and his colleagues returned to the RV area to move their patrol cars away from there and make sure no other civilians were harmed. He said the curtains of the RV were drawn and there were no registration plates on them.
Hosey remembers the recorded voice coming from RV then starting a chill countdown and saying ’14 minutes to blast ‘. She said the warning was followed by the Petula Clark song ‘Downtown’.
Luellen said the voice of the RV counted down to three minutes before the explosion, he saw a man with a dog coming up from a nearby building. He said just as he yelled at the man to go back, the RV exploded.
“I was knocked to the ground. I got up immediately, fortunately no injury or anything like that. I noticed the gentleman in shock with his dog. I checked him, penetrated him,” Luellen said.
He said he then ran to Miller, who was still in his patrol car. He said the explosion caused the airbag to go off Miller’s patrol car and that the sergeant cut it off when he opened the door.
Hosey recalls seeing a woman with a pram and four children on the street just before the blast. She said the face put my heart in my throat.
“I’m asking if I can help her … she has a stroller … and I’m telling her there’s a serious threat, and we need you to go. I’m grateful we were able to get her out,” Hosey said. said.
She said she was thrown forward by the explosion and hit on the ground.
“I called a loved one to let them know I was right, and then I ran to the intersection to look at Miller and Luellen to make sure they were right,” she said and her voice cracked from emotion. “That’s when I got on the radio to make sure Wells was right.”
She said she received no immediate response from Wells.
According to Wells, the explosion caused him to temporarily lose his hearing in his left ear, and he did not hear Hosey and other officers radio him.
Wells said that when he got the music off the RV, he feared officers were ambushed and began searching the tops of buildings and parking garages for an active shooter.
“At that moment, it really felt like, and it felt like there was going to be secondary activity. So every time we came out of a building, we made sure we looked around and looked at high areas, just to make sure no one “Look no further, and look at us,” said Wells.
He said he was walking back to the RV just before the explosion and “I literally hear God telling me to turn around and go look at Topping, who was alone.”
“To me, it felt like I was just taking three steps, and then the music stopped, and when I walk back to Topping now, I just see orange and then I hear a loud surge,” Wells said.
He said the explosion caused him to stumble.
“I just said to myself, ‘Stay on your feet, stay alive,'” Wells said. “I just take a full sprint, and I run to Topping to make sure she’s right. We meet in the middle, and we just grab each other and check on each other.”
He said he shouted at Topping to take out her gun in case they came under fire.
“It was just weird,” Wells said. “It felt like something out of a movie.”
Topping added that when I grabbed Wells, “I’ve never held anyone like that.” She said I heard Wells voice in that chaotic moment, “led me to see my kids at Christmas.”
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky, Josh Margolin and Jack Date contributed to this report.