Six police officers were recognized for their efforts to evacuate people and keep them safe from the explosion that happened in Nashville early Christmas morning.
Reports indicate that a huge explosion occurred in an empty street in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, early Friday morning. Police believe that the explosion was intentional, but designed to limit the number of casualties, Breitbart reported.
According to reports, police went to the location at the intersection of Commerce Street and 2nd Avenue in response to a shots-fired call at about 5:30 in the morning.
Nashville Police Chief John Drake said that upon their arrival, the police responders found an RV that was broadcasting a warning message to everyone in the vicinity, telling them to leave the place because a bomb will explode in 15 minutes, Breitbart reported.
"Evacuate now. There is a bomb. A bomb is in this vehicle and will explode," the message being broadcast via a loudspeaker said, according to a resident in the area named Betsy Williams.
BREAKING: Audio warning was being broadcast before explosion rocked downtown Nashville. Video shows moment of blast. pic.twitter.com/3IvciFH6BV
"” Breaking911 (@Breaking911) December 25, 2020
Early warning
Williams, owner of the Melting Pot building on 2nd Avenue, told the Tennessean that she was awakened at 4:30 a.m. by what sounded like multiple rounds of loud, rapid-fire gunshots. She said she called 911 to report the loud gunshots.
She said she then heard the warning message, spoken by a female voice, play over and over.
Eventually, she said, the voice started a 15-minute countdown that prompted her to leave the building along with her family.
"Whoever did it did give fair warning," she said.
Williams said they left the building, went into their vehicle, and waited for some time. They tried to go back because they didn't hear any explosion, but eventually saw a fireball fly as they were on 2nd Avenue and Broadway Street.
Evacuation efforts
Police who arrived on the scene went door to door to alert people to evacuate the area. Chief Drake said the police knocked on doors, made announcements, and had emergency communications communicate with everyone to make sure people are safe.
The officers were still busy with the evacuation when the RV exploded. At least two officers were injured during the explosion. One of them was knocked to the ground. As for civilians, at least three were injured and taken to the hospital for treatment. Their injuries were non-life-threatening.
BREAKING: This is the RV that exploded on 2nd Ave N this morning. It arrived on 2nd Ave at 1:22 a.m. Have you seen this vehicle in our area or do you have information about it? Please contact us via Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463 or online via https://t.co/dVGS7o0m4v. @ATFHQ pic.twitter.com/JNx9sDinAH "” Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) December 25, 2020
Local news reports praised six police officers who responded to the call and evacuated people from the premises. These are the following:
- Officer Brenna Hosey, who has been with the department for 4 years
- Officer James Luellen, who has been with the department for 3 years
- Officer Michael Sipos, who has been with the department for 16 months
- Officer Amanda Topping, who has been with the department for 21 months
- Officer James Wells, who has been with the department for 21 months
- Sergeant Timothy Miller, who has been with the department for 11 years
Metro Police Spokesman Don Aaron, speaking with Fox 17, said the police officers were able to save people from the explosion.
"We think lives were saved from these officers," he said.
President Donald Trump was also briefed as to the situation, and expressed his gratitude to the first responders who responded to the call, White House deputy spokesperson Judd Deere said. The President is also "praying for those who were injured," Deere added.
Intentional
Police officers noted that the blast is intentional, but they cannot conclude on any motives yet. And while the blast did not result in any reported death, reports say unconfirmed human remains were found in the vicinity of the explosion, the Associated Press reported.
The blast also resulted in destruction of physical properties. Williams, who owns Melting Pot, said the windows in her loft had been destroyed, for example. Looking from the outside, however, she saw that her interior decorations -her Christmas tree, for example- was still inside.
Moreover, the explosion occurred just outside of an AT&T building in 2nd Avenue. Police spokesman Aaron said an AT&T central office of a telephone exchange, which has network equipment in it, was affected by the blast, causing service interruptions, local reports said.
"We do not know if that was a coincidence, or if that was the intention," Aaron said.
The AT&T outages site revealed that middle Tennessee and Kentucky had service issues. Several police agencies also reported that their 911 systems, including those in locations as far as Knox Country, were down as a result of the outage.
T-Mobile services in several areas have been affected. Hospital systems and other connected systems, such as ATMs and card readers, were also affected as a result of the blast. Even Walmart was affected, with the retail company saying some of its stores had to go cash-only due to the explosion, WKRN reported.
More information will be given Saturday afternoon, U.S. Attorney Don Cochran said. The FBI is leading investigations into the case.
