Relaxation from the body camera footage released by police on Monday captures the awkward calm before the Nashville Christmas bomb attack – then the deafening explosion itself and the chaos in the minutes thereafter.
The stunning footage was captured by the camera of Officer Michael Sipos, one of the first six cops at the scene investigating the suspicious RV that sounded a sound warning to evacuate on Christmas morning at 6:30 p.m.
The nearly 13-minute video opens with Sipos and his fellow police officers urging residents of the area to clean up, as the RV’s own ominous message echoes up and down a mostly deserted Second Avenue.
‘Your main goal is to evacuate these buildings now,’ a female voice can be heard on the automatic recording coming from the RV. “Do not approach this vehicle.”
The cops can be heard commenting on the horrific scene.
“It’s so weird,” Sipos said. “It’s like something out of a movie.”
‘Like’ The Purge? ‘, Can hear another policeman ask, referring to the dystopian horror series.
Brenda Lee’s “Rockin ‘Around the Christmas Tree,” which makes the tension worse, can be heard playing on the loudspeaker of a closed shop window as police walk by.
As he passed the RV, one lawmaker noticed that the vehicle was sitting right outside a major AT&T building.
“The building next to it is the building that contains all the constipation for telephones in the southeast,” the official said.
“Makes sense,” replied another. “Great place to put a bomb.”
Investigators have since theorized that the suicide bomber, Anthony Quinn Warner, may have targeted the building with the intent to paralyze service, possibly due to a paranoid fear of 5G cellular technology and surveillance.
Sipos finally turns off Second Avenue and returns to his marked car.
Just seconds after Sipos opened the trunk, the thunderous explosion could be heard in the distance, followed by a cacophony of car alarms.
Sipos calmly puts on a protective vest, closes the trunk and returns in the direction of Second Avenue, the road back now littered with shards of broken glass and other scrap metal.
He returned to Second Avenue in time for his camera to capture the RV in flames, and a handful of shaken residents emerged from buildings and asked questions for which police had no answers.
Alternate bangs could be heard in the minutes after the larger explosion, which warned one officer that ammunition inside the RV could explode in the heat.
“We hear secondary. It could be ammunition in the vehicle, “one policeman could hear over the police radio. ‘Do not go public. Do not go out into the open in Second Avenue. ”
As medics and firefighters flooded the scene, curious people also asked what happened.
“Dude, trust me, go on like this,” Sipos addressed a citizen, staying away from the blast scene.
The blast killed Warner, wounding three other people and causing extensive damage to collateral, including telephone services in Tennessee and the south.
Investigators said the 63-year-old IT expert apparently acted alone.