Investigators have received more than 500 tips related to the Christmas morning blast in downtown Nashville, and they investigated a home in Antioch. But so far, no arrests have been made, no “people of interest have been publicly identified” and the motivation behind the explosion is still uncertain.
Here’s what we do know as of 8 a.m. Sunday morning:
- Motive: It’s still not clear whether this was a suicide bombing.
In an interview that will air later this morning on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Nashville Mayor John Cooper describes the explosion as a “bomb” several times, one of the first times officials have used that term to describe the blast. He also says it was an “attack on infrastructure,” pointing to the AT&T data center that was heavily damaged by the blast, and that investigators are confident there is no further threat.
“They think that the threat is over, that Nashville is safe, that there aren’t any other bombs,” Cooper says. “I think they wouldn’t have said that unless they were very confident that that is true.”
Metro Police Chief John Drake says investigators found what could be human tissue near the site of the blast, but so far, there’s no word on whether it is or how it’s related to the explosion.
- Investigation: Agents have conducted a search.
Investigators from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spent about five hours searching a duplex in Antioch. The results of that search haven’t been shared with the public. According to Metro property records, the home belonged to someone named Anthony Warner until about a month ago, when he gave it away to a woman living in California.
Cooper said on “Face The Nation” that there is a “lot of momentum” behind the case and that a lot of questions surrounding it will be answered soon. A press conference is scheduled for 9:30 a.m.
- Injuries and fatalities: More people may have been injured than first thought.
The Nashville Fire Department says it transferred three people to the hospital Friday morning, but a spokesman says that count does not include three Metro police officers who also received minor injuries.
A spokesperson for Tri-Star Centennial says it treated three people with injuries related to the blast, and a spokesperson for Vanderbilt University Medical Center says it treated four, including the police officers. That means seven people may have been injured in the blast, but all have since been released from the hospital.
As mentioned earlier, there’s also the possibility of a fatality related to the blast, depending on analysis of the possible human tissue that was found near the site of the explosion.
- AT&T customers are still experiencing outages.
The company says it’s deployed six mobile cell sites to help first responders and restoration teams communicate with each other, and service has been restored to some far-flung areas affected by the outage like Lexington, Ky. But customers in Middle Tennessee are still experiencing significant outages. The company says it’s making progress and will post an update shortly.
Listen to 90.3 WPLN News for the latest press conference at 9:30 a.m. Central.
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