NASHVILLE EXPLOSION ON CHRISTMAS DAY

According to wikipedia:  On December 25, 2020, a recreational vehicle (RV) exploded in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States, injuring three people and damaging dozens of buildings. Human remains were also found at the explosion site.   The explosion, which was deemed to be deliberate, took place at 166 Second Avenue North between Church Street and Commerce Street at 6:30 am, adjacent to an AT&T network hub, resulting in days-long communication service outages throughout the states.

Witnesses reported hearing gunshots, and loudspeakers on the vehicle warning people to evacuate before the detonation. The explosion was felt miles away from the blast site. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is leading the investigation, and has identified a person of interest, whose house has been searched.Authorities said the following day that the attack was likely a suicide bombing.

The explosion was linked to an RV that had arrived at 1:22 am outside an AT&T transmission building on Second Avenue North in downtown Nashville.  Later in the morning, residents were awakened by what seemed to be the sound of rapid gunfire in at least three bursts, followed by a recorded message from the RV, spoken by a female computerized voice: "This area must be evacuated now. If you can hear this message, evacuate now."Witnesses also recalled that the voice said there was a bomb in the vehicle, that the warning was interspersed with music, and that it had also started a 15-minute countdown.

Responding to reports of shots being fired at around 5:30 am, Metropolitan Nashville Police Department officers arrived at the area and encountered the parked vehicle.   After hearing the recording, six officers evacuated homes in the area and called in the hazardous devices unit.   At 6:30 am, while the bomb squad was on its way to the area, the vehicle exploded.

Three people sustained non-critical injuries, including two of the officers who had been evacuating residents.  No fatalities were reported.  One video posted to social media appears to show debris from the explosion landing on a building about two blocks away from the initial location.  At least three vehicles burned after the bombing,[ at least 41 businesses were damaged, and one building located across from the site of the bombing collapsed.

The bombing caused infrastructural damage to a nearby AT&T service facility, which contained a telephone exchange with network equipment in it, resulting in AT&T service outages across the U.S., primarily in Middle Tennessee. Cellular, wireline telephone, internet, and U-verse television service were affected, as were multiple local 9-1-1 and non-emergency phone networks in the region, along with Nashville's COVID-19 community hotline and some hospital systems. T-Mobile also reported interruptions to its service. The Memphis Air Route Traffic Control Center also experienced communication issues, leading the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ground flights from Nashville International Airport for about an hour.

Outages continued to affect communication services, including Internet, phone, and 9-1-1 services, for at least a day after the bombing.Some stores reported switching to a cash-only policy due to credit card systems being out of service, while issues with ATMs have also been reported.AT&T mentioned deploying two mobile cell sites downtown by the next morning, with an additional five deployed throughout Nashville by evening, but it gave no specific timeline in regard to a full restoration of service, adding that a fire that reignited during the night led to an evacuation of the building.Officials later said a full service restoration could take days.

Investigation, Shortly after the bombing, a bomb squad, along with police and federal investigators, arrived at the site to gather evidence.Authorities swept the area and did not find any additional explosives.The FBI field office in Memphis is leading the investigation, alongside the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and state and local law enforcement agencies.  More than 250 FBI personnel from at least seven field offices were involved.  A reward for any information about the bombing was announced shortly into the investigation.  More than 500 tips and leads were received.

Investigators found shell casings in the area but believed they were remnants of unfired ammunition that was destroyed in the explosion.   Human remains were also found near the site of the explosion. Authorities said the attack was likely a suicide bombing.

The FBI identified a 63-year-old man as a person of interest in the investigation.  Investigators searched his home in the Antioch neighborhood of Nashville.  Google Street View images of the address of the person of interest appeared to show an RV similar to the one used in the bombing.  Neighbors of the property told a local news outlet that they recognized the RV in the image released by police, saying it had sat unused for years until its owner began giving it renewed attention about a month before the bombing, with it disappearing off the property entirely days before. Authorities are investigating whether the person of interest carried out the bombing.   The FBI is also probing whether the person of interest was a believer in 5G conspiracy theories; with specific interest given to investigating whether he displayed "paranoia about 5G technology and conspiracy theories about it being used to spy on Americans".

Aftermath:  The Nashville Fire Department evacuated the downtown riverfront,and Mayor John Cooper issued a curfew for the affected area (the area bounded by James Robertson Parkway, Fourth Avenue North, Broadway, and the Cumberland River) starting at 4:30 pm on December 25 and ending at 4:30 pm on December 27.In addition, the FAA issued a notice declaring a circular area with a radius of 1 nautical mile (1.15 mi; 1.85 km), centered around the explosion, as "National Defense Airspace", effective that afternoon and lasting for five days.

Police in Cincinnati, Ohio, shut down streets downtown for a few hours while investigating an RV that appeared to have its engine running outside the Federal Building, citing the Nashville explosion as a reason for the high level of caution. The RV turned out to have a generator, which produced a sound reminiscent of a running engine.  One of the owners of a restaurant affected by the blast mentioned that guests had reported the vehicle had been there since Thursday night