Reports: Explosion rocks downtown Nashville

[milestogo]

Source: Washington Post

NASHVILLE — News reports say emergency crews have responded to an explosion in downtown Nashville. Black smoke and flames were seen billowing from the area.

Buildings shook in the immediate area and beyond after a loud boom was heard early Christmas morning. Police and fire crews were on the scene.

The Metro Nashville Office of Emergency Management told Nashville television station WKRN that a parked recreational vehicle exploded and damaged several buildings. No injuries were immediately reported. The station also quoted officials as saying the explosion did not seem suspicious.

Buck McCoy, who lives near the area, posted videos on Facebook that show water pouring down the ceiling of his home. Alarms blare in the background and cries of people in great distress ring in the background. A fire is visible in the street outside. McCoy said the windows of his home were entirely blown out.




Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/reports-explosion-rocks-downtown-nashville/2020/12/25/8d2157fa-46b7-11eb-ac2a-3ac0f2b8ceeb_story.html

[MyOwnPeace]

1. quoted officials as saying.......

"the explosion did not seem suspicious."

WTF!!!!!

How could it be anything but!?!?!

[ret5hd]

3. "IF" they believe it is unsuspicious...

my bet is a propane leak in the RV.

[wnylib]

74. If you read through the linked article,

it is being called "deliberate" and the FBI is investigating.

[brewens]

4. No shit. I don't think RV's just blow up like that. I saw one burn down to the tires and we thought

we saw a little flare from propane going up. That didn't even explode.

[TexasProgresive]

44. If the propane was leaking and mixed with air in the correct ratio that's a fuel air bomb.

The fire you saw probably overheated the tank so that the gas was expelled into the fire so it lit up like a big butane lighter, no explosion.

I had the same thing happen with a pickup truck in a hay field. The fire started underneath heating up the fuel tank which blew the cap of creating a flame plume some 75 feet long. No BANG just a whoosh.

I have no clue what happened but gas explosions happen and propane/butane are heavier than air settling in pockets.

[cstanleytech]

63. Depends on the cause to be honest. Some RVs these days have gas generators for example

that people can use when parked so if it blew or as someone said if the propane tank blew then yes it could simply be an accidental explosion.
Besides if it was intentional the person or persons that did it would want to cause as much fear and terror as possible so they would have probably contacted the news agencies to claim ownership.

[Polybius]

71. The RV could have been a meth lab and accidentally blew up from that

Maybe I've been watching too much Breaking Bad.

[mobeau69]

16. CNN reporting that authorities are calling it intentional. nt

[McKim]

113. CNN Mentioned and Speculated Several Times it Was The Left!

CNN has mentioned and speculated that it might be Leftists who set off the bomb. Beating people like me over the head and discrediting the Left.

[MustLoveBeagles]

125. That pissed me off

[Sapient Donkey]

129. Did they give any rationale for that line of thinking?

I suppose it's possible, but given the current environment, that seems far less likely than other possibilities.

[paleotn]

37. It's being called intentional now.

[raccoon]

2. Domestic terrorists maybe? Just speculating. Nt

[ewagner]

5. My guess also n/t

[DemoTex]

6. Nashville is 20-degrees F this morning ..

My money is on propane, natural gas, or other heating fuel.

[DemoTex]

100. Damn ..

Looks like I was wrong!

[Marthe48]

7. I hope no one is hurt

But I did think of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. It was pretty big - footage of the aftermath

Link to tweet

[mn9driver]

11. That is a very large footprint. Not an Rv propane tank.

Not good

[CanonRay]

26. Not even a 100lb propane tank could do that much damage

and most RVs carry two 20lb tanks. This was something else.

[Ligyron]

59. The War on Christmas has entered a whole new phase.

OTOH, in spite of my sick attempt at humor, I certainly hope no one was Killed or horribly injured by the blast.

[orangecrush]

82. HOLY SHIT

[Rollo]

9. Could it be the RV was a mobile meth lab?

If so, yeah, nothing suspicious about that in Tennessee...

[annabanana]

12. 😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣😅😅😅😁

[babylonsister]

14. Breaking 'really' Bad! nt

[FelineOverlord]

10. Reports: Explosion rocks downtown Nashville

First thing I thought was a gas leak, but then when I heard it was an exploding vehicle I feared a bomb.

Never thought of a possible meth lab in a vehicle. Even after all my years of watching Intervention I didn't know mobile meth labs existed.

EDIT: The police are now saying it was possibly intentional.

Link to tweet

[jmowreader]

17. Did you see Breaking Bad?

Walter started his meth-cooking career in a mobile meth lab - the RV he and Jesse would drive to the desert to cook in.

There’s also the Shake and Bake method that’s done in a Coke bottle. A lot of the people who use it put the bottle in the back seat of their cars.

[FelineOverlord]

20. Did you see Breaking Bad?

I have to admit that I have never watched that show. I don't watch much television.

[jmowreader]

53. Check YouTube

The Breaking Bad producers have a channel with a lot of clips from the show. It's pretty good. I think I'll get the "complete series" Blu-Ray set.

[Lucky Luciano]

81. Skip most TV, but Breaking Bad is truly amazing. I was hooked after season 1 Ep 6:

Walter White was a high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with lung cancer. He was a true genius chemist though...and he used this skill to make and distribute the best crystal meth anyone could get to leave money to his family upon his death. He evolved from a soft spoken gentle teacher to ruthless kingpin. The show was filled with amazing characters and amazing character development. It gets better season after season - very rare for a show.

When his partner got robbed and beaten by a local kingpin early in his scheme, he came back to do this:

When he realized he was smarter than the competition he decided to keep going after he though about quitting:

When his boss was going to kill him and replace him with a cheaper chemist after Walter transferred his knowledge, Walter took care of his replacement. Walt’s wife thought he was in over his head...he makes it clear who he really is:

....and he becomes the full kingpin and demands respect:

[Aerator]

13. The police just said it was intentional

They were on the way to investigate a suspicious vehicle when it exploded

[eppur_se_muova]

15. "An intentional act" -- police and FD were aware *before* the explosion occurred -- more from local

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2020/12/25/downtown-nashville-explosion-christmas/4044635001/

Massive downtown Nashville explosion an 'intentional act', police say
Yihyun Jeong
Brinley Hineman
Nashville Tennessean

Published 7:03 a.m. CT Dec. 25 2020 Updated 8:57a.m. CT Dec. 25, 2020

Nashville authorities believe an explosion that occurred in downtown Nashville early Christmas morning was an "intentional act" and sparked by a vehicle.

Police responded to reports of a suspicious vehicle parked outside the AT&T building just before 6 a.m. Upon arrival, police said an officer "had reason" to alert the department's hazardous devices unit, which was en route, when a "significant explosion" happened.

Three people were hospitalized with injuries, police said

Police and firefighters responded to an area near Second Avenue and Commerce Street about 6:45 a.m. Friday.

The fire department confirmed a bomb squad was on the scene with an active investigation by Metro police and federal agenices.

Police said the incident was linked to a vehicle parked outside the Melting Pot and investigators said an RV was involved.

[Klaralven]

35. The target was undoubtedly the AT&T communications equipment building across from the Melting Pot

In Streetview, it has mostly blank windowless walls, typical of later generations of telephone equipment buildings.

It's probably OK, since they are relatively sturdy buildings designed to support lots of very heavy racks full of electronics.

[onenote]

48. "undoubtedly"? Seems like a premature judgment.

[Klaralven]

54. The one side of the street is two comm buildings and a parking ramp

The other side is lined with 3 and 4 story buildings with restaurants and bars on the street level and probably offices or apartments above.

Maybe the target was The Old Spaghetti Factory, but I doubt it...

[yellowdogintexas]

124. studied the map a bit; the AT&T tower (aka Batman Building) is at 3rd &Commerce

but the bomb was at 2nd & Commerce. Wondering if there are other buildings in that area which are part of the communications structure? There are a number of 5 and 6 story buildings surrounding the tower. Could that be the AT&T switching center?

It's a scary as hell mess that's for certain.

Can't help but think this is some kind of a dry run for something bigger.

[Klaralven]

126. If you go to "the melting pot, nashville, tn" on google maps you'll see the explosion location mark

Across 2nd Avenue from the Melting Pot is a tall building with a mostly windowless brick facade. If you use streetview to "walk" 2nd avenue there is one door marked AT%T, but it is mostly free of signs. Most telecom equipment buildings and data centers are unmarked that way.

So on the west side of the block of 2nd Avenue starting at Commerce Street there is first a parking ramp, then most of the block is the brick AT&T building, and then at the end nearest Church Street is another anonymous utilitarian looking building, which I think is an older telephone equipment building. It is a lot shorter than the rather tall newer equipment building that takes up most of the block.

The Batman Building is just an office space and probably contains nothing important to the functioning of the network. In fact, it is no longer owned by AT&T and AT&T just occupies leased space in it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Building_(Nashville)

[denbot]

115. This means the explosion was caught on the patrol car's dashcam.

Hopefully the asshole who set it was recorded leaving the vehicle, unless he set it off arming the device.

[dalton99a]

18. Sounds like Vanilla ISIS from the Trump Caliphate

[Major Nikon]

39. That's what my money is on

[Hassin Bin Sober]

68. Yep.

[Sapient Donkey]

127. Wouldn't surprise me if so.

I hope that's not the case, because I would much rather our country not be in a situation where we start having Trumpians blowing shit up because of some conspiracies the soon to be ex-president is spewing.

[jmowreader]

19. I hate to have to think this way...

...but could this be Proud Boys-related?

[Tikki]

21. Maybe like mcveigh, nichols....

Tikki

[joshcryer]

49. Almost certainly.

[jalan48]

22. And Trump's FBI will be investigating. Good luck.

[BumRushDaShow]

23. WaPo update - Police say "intentional"

Explosion rocks downtown Nashville in what police call ‘intentional’ act




By Derek Hawkins and Paulina Firozi
Dec. 25, 2020 at 10:17 a.m. EST


Police say an explosion in downtown Nashville early Christmas morning that shattered storefronts and left at least three people hospitalized with noncritical injuries “appears to have been an intentional act.”

Authorities were called to the area around 6 a.m. local time to respond to a report of a suspicious vehicle outside the AT&T office building, the tallest skyscraper in the state, Metro Nashville Police Department spokesperson Don Aaron said in a morning news conference.

After checking out the vehicle, the officer who responded “had reason to call our hazardous devices unit,” Aaron said.

The blast went off around 6:30 a.m. local time, according to police, smashing windows, signs and garage doors along a block in the city’s Arts District and sending a plume of bright orange flames into the sky.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/25/nashville-explosion-christmans/

[JHB]

24. Local news coverage here

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/explosion-reported-downtown-nashville-police-investigating

Live reports have said several people have been taken to hospital, but no injuries are critical.

[ouija]

25. Dump crazies get their wish

RW violence gives Trump a platform to blame progressives and Antifa to roll with Martial Law and suspend the Constitution

[bucolic_frolic]

28. That's where my thoughts went to

but it's a long way from actual suspicions yet. Let's see what investigators find.

Thank goodness no one killed, which sort of seems by design so early in the morning.

Kudos to the brave police checking out the scene prior. It was a risky place to be.

[dware]

45. That is pure bullshit,

as long as civil authority and civil courts are still functioning, then Pissolini cannot legally impose Martial Law and the Military will not obey an illegal order and the courts would step in so quick it would make Pissolini's head spin.

[DENVERPOPS]

64. Agreed

and the generals have stated that they WILL NOT get involved in a political situation......Does that mean they won't be activated to enforce martial law, or that if a whole big bunch of MAGATS slither into Washington D.C. they will not help if they riot????
I gotta tell you, if even a few thousand armed MAGATS demonstrate in D.C. there is no way in hell the Local Leos and others can have much of an effect to deter them.....

dware, do you think that Trump and Pence both getting the hell out of DC at this particular time is curious??????

[dware]

69. I really don't attach much to them being out of town,

Pissolini being out of town golfing during the holiday's is typical Pissolini, and Pence, IMO, is pretty much trying divorcing himself from this train wreck, but with this Pres., who knows for sure, the one thing I do know with certainty, as long as the civil authorities and the civil courts are still functioning, then Pissolini cannot legally declare Martial Law and the Military will refuse to follow him off the cliff.

Merry Christmas to you and your family.

[yellowdogintexas]

120. that of course won't stop him from milking it for all the attention he can get

and use it to encourage his cult followers. It will become part of his speil

[dware]

138. He'll grift to the end.

He'll milk it for all it's worth until his blockheaded followers finally wise up to the fact that he's a phony, has always been a phony, and will always be a phony.

[LiberalLovinLug]

89. Of course that wouldn't stop some Trump cult members from thinking it would help Trump

They are not the sharpest knives. Try and make it look like AntiFa or BLM supporters. What better day for a "bomb n blame" on the godless anti-Christmas socialists?

[dware]

111. Oh I agree with what you say,

but the Generals and the Admirals will see it for what it is and will not obey an order to implement Martial Law if the civil authorities and civil courts are still functioning, which, the last time I looked, they still are, and doing a pretty good job despite Pissolini's roadblocks.

I can imagine such a move by Pissolini would get shut down by the first judge that this came to before the ink even dried.

[Polybius]

73. I don't think it's RW or Antifia

The fact that it happened on Christmas leads me to believe it's something else.

[wnylib]

88. I doubt it would be Antifa.

But it could be RWers. They might think that Christmas is a good day for a "righteous" cause and blame it on "Godless" lefties.

I don't know who else it would be. I think foreign terrorists would choose a bigger, more attention-getting target.

[liberalhistorian]

99. I remember sometime in the

90's (can't remember the exact year) when an abortion clinic was bombed on Christmas day and the fundie jackwagons responsible for it proudly called it a "gift for Jesus on his birthday". I wouldn't put it past any of the RW cultists nutball groups to have pulled this on this day, maybe hoping to give their God Trump a "gift" to help along martial law and/or keep him in office or some such delusional shit they're so good at dreaming up or pulling out of their asses.

[wnylib]

106. I saw another DU thread that said

RW extremists have announced that there will be several attacks on government offices and lawmakwers around the country unless Trump is given a second term.

But that doesn't fit an attack on the center of downtown Nashville, where there are only restaurants, some retail outfits, a few apartments, and an AT&T building.

I checked Huffpost. They said that people did hear some shots, which were reported to police. When police arrived, there was a recording blasting from the van that it would explode in 15 minutes. Police were evacuating the area when the bomb went off.

A statement of some sort, not intended to kill, unless they wanted to harm cops who arrived just before the explosion. Maybe this is meant to be a "kickoff" for the violence threatened if Trump doesn't get a second term. We'll know more as the investigation progresses.

[greenjar_01]

101. Go on

[Sapient Donkey]

128. I'm hoping it wasn't on purpose, but that doesn't seem to be case based on what they're saying

If intentional, my first thoughts go toward some crazy trumpian right-winger. It could be some islamic stuff, but this doesn't seem like their style. I also don't see any extremist left groups doing this.

I could be totally be off and maybe it will turn out be the islamic leftist wing of the alt-right proudboys who were using it as a distraction so that they could rob a bank so they could buy a larger RV to convert into a meth lab, but I leaning toward this being a right-wing conspiracy nut who thinks that building was giving people 5G COVID cancer and turning their pet frogs gay.

[bluestarone]

27. Wow! hope some of it is on cameras in the area BEFORE

The blast! Rump told the stand down BUT stand by! We'll hear more on this i'm sure!

[mn9driver]

29. Police and fire now saying they believe it was intentional.

To my untrained eye it doesn’t look like a high explosive was used, so that implies something like fertilizer. Maybe.

The timing and location of the blast suggest that a high body count was not what these hypothetical bombers were looking for. It certainly looks like possible far-right terrorism at the moment. I’m guessing we will know who it was fairly quickly.

[joshcryer]

52. I suspect anti-masker blew it up with no intent to kill anyone.

Christmas was chosen because they knew no one would be there.

It was a trial run though for a full on government attack.

[Mike 03]

77. Why this location, though, if anti-maskers?

Why AT&T?

Why not a more politically symbolic location?

[MustBeTheBooz]

80. Tallest building in Nashville, perhaps?

[joshcryer]

90. Hooters

Heh

I don't know I am doubting myself now. There's a lot of plausible theories flying around out there.

[greenjar_01]

104. Sons of Blooming Onions won't stand for Hooters shut down!

Give us Original Recipe Atomic Wings, or give us Death!

[denbot]

116. Umm.. yeah, it's about the wings.. That's the ticket..

[DENVERPOPS]

55. fertilizer

is precisely what McVeigh used (ANFO) to bring down the Fed Center he bombed........

Do you remember what that building looked like after that fertilizer bomb???????

I am guessing a whole big bunch of ATF & FBI boys and girls are not going to spend Christmas day with their families....

[wnylib]

91. McVeigh was able to do more damage

to the building because he parked the bomb under it.

This one was on the street. If it had detonated underneath the building, or closer to it, the building damage would have been worse.

I'm wondering if first responders were the targets. Before the explosion, somebody (bomber?) called in a complaint about shooting, but there wasn't any shooting. The bomb went off shortly after police arrived, but before the bomb squad got there.

[Make7]

107. The truck used in the OKC bombing was parked on the street.

https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1453-20490-7474/fema_277_ok_city.pdf#page=50
(17.7 MB)

[wnylib]

108. I thought it was parked in a

ramp under the building. Maybe I mixed that up with the 1993 WTC bomb.

[Make7]

112. The fact that car/truck bombs even exist in this world is not an inspiring commentary on humanity.

I still recall Jon Stewart discussing on the Daily Show how common suicide/car/truck bombings were in Iraq and comparing that to the upheaval in American society when similar tragedies occur far less frequently.

[DENVERPOPS]

133. I wondered

if you were thinking about the parking garage WTC bomb.

People in the know that I talked to mentioned that if that guy who set off the one in the WTC parking garage, put it in a different spot, it may well have brought down the WTC. The bomber simply didn't know the best place to park the van.

Interesting fact about the two students at Columbine. If their home made propane tank bomb had gone off as they planned, the death toll at Columbine would have been in the hundreds. The two high school kids, simply didn't know that you had to strip the insulation off the wires before you attached them to the terminals leading to the timer......Duh

[DENVERPOPS]

132. He and Nichols

loaded up a U-haul truck, and parked it on the street................

[wnylib]

134. Thanks. Another poster also corrected me.

I was thinking of the 1993 WTC bombing apparently.

[burrowowl]

137. Fertilizer is the basis for high explosives

Chemical fertilizers were pushed after WW1 to maintain capacity for the next wars production of high explosives.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

30. The feds have been targeting right wing terrorist cells for months.

It was only a matter of time. Obviously, this is jumping to conclusions but they're the ones who have been threatening violence.

[Ramsey Barner]

31. WKRN reports FBI press conference soon about this event

[link:https://www.wkrn.com/news/large-explosion-in-downtown-nashville/|

[Ramsey Barner]

40. FBI press conference at 10:45 CST

[ChazInAz]

32. In the Arts District.

Just the sort of place that would be considered a prime target by trumpistas.

[Iggo]

33. An RV.

That's kinda on the nose.

(EDIT: I posted this before I read that it was intentional.)

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

34. Maybe a deranged anti-masker upset about getting thrown out of a

place of business for not wearing a mask?

Lots of videos of deranged anti-maskers going off the rails out there, I mean, geez, look at what those crazies did at the Oregon statehouse recently.

[mopinko]

38. yup. that sort is askeert of the artists.

and rightly so.

[DENVERPOPS]

66. Or some idiot asshole

Believed that the ATT building was the headquarters for Hillary's Child Trafficking Ring????????????

[xxqqqzme]

41. Wow!

Last edited Fri Dec 25, 2020, 01:55 PM - Edit history (1)

Have an old high school friend who lives in Nashville now. Better check in with her.

They're fine. Woke them up though.

[Ford_Prefect]

42. Seems like a Qanon or pRoud bOuys type with McVeigh aspirations.

Nashville Police and Fire are reporting this as an intentional explosion of an RV size vehicle. This is far more damage than a gas tank or propane bottle. There are some buildings which sustained far more damage bordering on collapse. widespread damage is being reported in the area. The statements about windows broken rather understates the force and scale of the explosion. The photos show windows and doors ripped from their mountings, not merely cracked or shattered.

If you will recall recently there was a white terrorist plot to attack power stations on New Year's Day exposed in an un-intentional reveal of sealed investigation documents. This attack seems in line with that tactic and very typical of what such groups might get up to including means of delivery and location, especially in emulating McVeigh.

[link:https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/V3da_6moX41hIMvVs07xZg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTQ4OQ--/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/5ScFPk8ZqEf4uzztvA7Gdg--~B/aD05Nzg7dz0xOTIwO2FwcGlkPXl0YWNoeW9u/https://media.zenfs.com/en/complex584/10487a30fd339d95427bbb9c4295b5bc|]

WKRN Channel 2 Nashville has more: https://www.wkrn.com/news/large-explosion-in-downtown-nashville/

[sinkingfeeling]

57. My money's on Qanon. They have a conspiracy theory that G5 is causing virus.

[Ford_Prefect]

84. Either that or the Bugaloo crowd who seem disposed to violence on this scale.

My mis-spellings are purposeful as the correct names trigger internet counting in favor of those misanthropic idiots and their vengeful plots.

[wnylib]

94. Somebody called in shots but

there weren't any and the bomb had not gone off yet. Looks like the bomber(s) might have wanted to target police or other responders.

[JohnnyRingo]

43. On Christmas morning. That says something important

That something being that they probably didn't want to hurt many people since they knew businesses downtown would be closed and empty.

Maybe a disgruntled would be country star passed over for the CMHOF? Look for someone with a tattoo across their midriff that says "Redneck Life". Lookin' at you, Stapleton.

Just kidding. It'll be interesting to find out who takes credit or gets found out.

[onenote]

51. Some indication that the target was first responders.

Time will tell.

[intheflow]

93. This occurred to me as well.

This could be a far-left incident as easily as a far-right one. It was in a commercial district, which has connections in my brain to anticapitalist anarchists. (Remember the Battle of Seattle?) Or, if the first responders were the target, it frames Black people/Defund the Police/ACAB.

Of course, if I put on my finest tin hat, this was the far-right doing that framing, conflating the supposed War on Christmas with DtP/ACAB. Because if you think about it, ACAB is calling every cop a bastard, not every firefighter or paramedic. Because paramedics & fire fighters actually help people. IOW, the far left wouldn't be targeting all first responders.

[Ford_Prefect]

98. Is this the War on Christmas we've heard so much about?

[JohnnyRingo]

114. Soon to come:

Christmas War Bonds.
Or maybe a War on Christmas scrap drive (catalytic convertors and Taj Mahal casino chips accepted).

O'Reilly's visage on the war bonds with money going to Trump's re-election campaign.

[Enoki33]

46. Police have said that they were alerted by a suspicious vehicle

phone call, and that the bomb exploded while emergency experts were on their way. That seems to indicate anti government domestic terrorism. Maybe the bomb was timed for their arrival. Hope it was not a trial run. The FBI are very good at what they do, and they will eventually put the pieces together.

[Archae]

47. Maybe someone who hates country music?

Seriously, it could be a bomb, or a gas explosion.
We don't know yet.

Some decades ago, at a campground I saw a large RV destroyed by a propane explosion.
Fortunately no one was hurt, but the RV was in pieces.

[Klaralven]

56. Too many Holly Jolly Dolly Christmases?

[PatrickforO]

50. My money is on the Boogaloo Boys.

Dirtbags and traitors, all. Fucking assholes.

[maddogesq]

58. Me too.

What’s scary is that this appears to be a pro bomb rig that was controlled remotely. That’s indicative of folks with training...you know, like former military.

[Polybius]

75. Normally I would agree, but because it's Christmas I'm suspicious

Perhaps ISIS.

[sandensea]

92. Or Cheeto, trying to give himself an excuse to declare his beloved Martial Law

I put nothing past that man.

[Lock him up.]

105. It's in TN, FFS.

Communi$m-for-the-Rich-only kingdom.

[sandensea]

110. No shortage of local extremist elements willing to carry such a thing out, no doubt about it

Nashville, as you know, is also a Democratic island in a sea of rural/small town Republican counties.

That no doubt figured in the decision.

Some beautiful Reconstruction-era architecture lost - but Thank God no one was killed.

[denbot]

117. One of the proud boys burned down the Nashville's old courthouse.

This asshole.

[sandensea]

118. "Ma. Ma! I want mah PA!"

"Talk to my brother - ha, ha, ha."

[yellowdogintexas]

119. Nashville also has the largest Kurdish community in the US something like 10000

in fact it is so diverse that over 100 nationalities are represented in the school system I assume the Kurdish community is not the only Islamic nation that is well represented.

[wnylib]

95. ISIS would choose a larger, more

significant or attention getting target, wouldn't they?

I'm thinking more far right, anti government types targeting first responders and taunting FBI to show they can do it.

[yellowdogintexas]

121. if it was government they wanted to go after, the entire state government is

a 15 minute walk away, and I believe the local Federal offices are in the downtown area

[wnylib]

131. Good points. So perhaps someone

who wanted to disrupt communications or has a grudge against AT&T.

[BobTheSubgenius]

60. Propane can explode with incredible force.

A small tank went off inside a shipping container that a construction crew was using as an officebreak room. It woke us up, as you might imagine, and windows were shaking on our street, fully 5 blocks from the blast, with houses to buffer it.

When I went out later, I saw he container and was surprised at how damaged it was, although you couldn't see much because of all the police and FD activity.

When I returned later in the day, the site was much more visible, and it turned out that the damaged container I'd seen was NEXT to the one that exploded, which was peeled like a Mandarin orange.

That big, locking steel door? The explosion sent it across the building site, across the road and at least 100 feet into the park. It would have FLATTENED whoever had been unlucky enough to be in its path.

The only injury, because of the early hour of the event, was the ruptured eardrums of the guy who was there, opening the site for the day. He tried to go back to work once he was released from the hospital, but the company figured he'd had enough of a day and sent him home. He was expected to make a full recovery.

[Ford_Prefect]

103. WKRN and security videos show much larger flash and blast than a common propane tank would produce.

Whatever vehicle it was attached to or housed inside was blown into very small shrapnel and essentially vaporized at the point of detonation, scarring the buildings further down and up the block. One propane bottle might have ripped the bodywork apart but the chassis would remain in twisted form.

[BMW2020RT]

61. I heard the explosion on the eastern outskirt of the county.

My former home near downtown is about a mile away from the blast site.

[dalton99a]

62. Shots were fired before the explosion

Foul play was not suspected at first, but Metro Nashville Police Department’s spokesperson, Don Aaron said police now believe the explosion was an intentional act. Shots were also fired at some point before the explosion.

https://www.wkrn.com/news/large-explosion-in-downtown-nashville/

[Mike 03]

78. If true this is a crucial bit of information.

[wnylib]

96. Another article linked in the OP

says that there were reports of shots called in, but investigators saw no signs of shots having been fired. Maybe the shots report was intended to get responders to the site for the detonation?

[moriah]

139. Witness who called gunshots in said her and her husband think...

.... looking back that they may have been part of the recording coming from the vehicle.

Her story has been evolving because everyone and their mother has been interviewing her, but yeah this is the lady who says she is the one who called the shots in.

Her story suggests whoever did it very well may have started out with recordings of gunfire to get residents to call police, but it still seems pretty clear that they made extensive efforts to advertise there was a bomb -- and at least if they had the timer correctly aligned with the recording, gave *more* time after the "15... 14..." minute countdown change before detonation, while continuing until the end to say "get out now".

This very well could have played out differently -- it doesn't match the MO of McVeigh-esque domestic terrorists, ones who are actually angry at the government and don't care who they hurt. It also doesn't seem like they were angry at LE either -- a much smaller bomb and a similar recording of gunfire to lure LE there first, or a secondary detonation to hurt rescuers, or blaming it on "timing was bad" and deliberately detonating before announcement said it would, would have been more textbook if their intent was to harm LE but not residents.

To me the most plausible theories, given the incredibly limited information and still no confirmation if remains were inside the RV or not... well, the first is going to be easy enough for investigators to eliminate, and that's if an ex-employee of any of those businesses/AT&T decided to go out with a blast. Holidays drive many suicides, as does joblessness.

The second, harder to track down and potentially loony (but then again anyone doing this is loony) theory in my mind is some lunatic wanted to "help" LE by showing that LE was needed to deal with lunatics. And instead of actually "helping", they have taken firefighters who also usually serve as first responders away from a pandemic to have to inspect the structural integrity of several blocks of the city.

[wnylib]

140. Thanks. By now, we know about

the shots on the recording, but did not know it earlier when posting.

[Hekate]

65. Car bomb? What fresh hell is this? nt

[LPBBEAR]

67. My Guesses

1. Shots fired call was meant to draw Law Enforcement into the area.
2. Timing of explosion meant to not cause massive loss of life except perhaps some Law Enforcement for publicity/sympathy purposes.
3. There may be a few more of these incidents around the country.
4. These incidents will turn out to be perpetrated by right wing terrorists in support of Trump.
5. Trump will use these incidents to try and declare martial law as he will blame Antifa and Leftists for the explosions.
6. Trump will attempt to use Martial Law to stay in power.

Basically Trumps "Reichstag Fire".

Its either this scenario or a war with Iran to keep the Orange Monster in power.

Time will tell how close I am.

[BamaRefugee]

83. You left out "Trump will pardon them"

[LPBBEAR]

85. Well of course...

Thats a given. You forgot he'll also give them "Hero Of The Soviet Union" medals.

[BamaRefugee]

87. And issue an executive order for their faces to be on coins, stamps and paper money.

[bucolic_frolic]

70. Analyst on CNN mentioned

it's in front of an AT&T Building, and AT&T owns CNN.

So .. some whacko makes his stand against what he perceives to be the "fake news" companies?

[Ford_Prefect]

86. This!!!

[BamaRefugee]

72. WinnebagoBOOM! Trump will pardon them all. They'll be RWNJ HEROES.

[yaesu]

76. the "terrorist" seems to have something against the row of trees as he killed the hell out of them

I'm thinking an incel with a mother "nature" complex.

[Bengus81]

79. There has to be camera's in the the area somewhere..............

[wnylib]

97. That's what I'm thinking.

Security cameras for the businesses in thecarea might have caught something.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

102. This breaks my heart. I've walked that road many times for many years.

[yellowdogintexas]

122. as have I. I love downtown Nashville (almost as much as I love downtown Ft Worth)

Some of the destroyed buildings are Reconstruction era

It makes me very sad indeed

[orangecrush]

109. They knocked out 911

And cell communications over a very wide area

Someone put a lot of time, planning and money into this.

Perhaps now we know where the money Trump has been milking his cult for is going.

[yellowdogintexas]

123. I just saw a list of the 911 impact.

About 100 mile radius, up into Kentucky.

forty buildings damaged.

[orangecrush]

130. The news on this

Gets weirder by the hour.

[Calista241]

135. If their goal was to knock out cell communication, it was probably a robbery.

Set off a bomb, get every cop within 250 miles to show up at 1 place, then rob whatever high value bank or whatever while the cops are literally looking the other way.

The 15 minute announcements basically ensured there wouldn’t be any civilians around to get murdered, but not a long enough time to get an EOD team on-site to defuse / destroy the bomb prior to detonation.

[orangecrush]

136. Very strange.

And for what it's worth, flights out of Nashville were temporarily grounded.

[DENVERPOPS]

141. I feel sad for all the familys of emergency personnel

whose Christmas mornings celebrations were ruined over this. This kind of thing sets off alarms & cellphones across the city, state and nation.....it activates a pre-planned network of hundreds and hundreds of emergency personnel almost immediately, with hundreds and hundreds more to follow......