‘Human remains’ found near RV that exploded outside Nashville AT&T

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Police have found tissue that could potentially be human remains near the bomb-rigged RV that exploded outside of an AT&T building in Nashville at 6am on Friday morning.  

Nashville police chief John Drake gave no further details on the discovery during a press briefing on Friday evening, repeating that there were still no known casulties but that the tissue is being examined.  

Law enforcement officers had earlier said remains were found near the bomb site but did not indicate whether they were directly linked to the explosion, whether they could belong to the person responsible or a potential victim. 

The bomb was inside an RV that exploded on Second Avenue, between Church and Commerce Street, at 6.40am. 

Police were already on the scene and evacuating people after being called to the area forty minutes earlier amid reports of shots fired. When they got there, there were no obvious signs of a shooting but the RV was playing an announcement featuring a woman’s voice saying it would explode in 15 minutes. 

They rushed to get people out of their homes while the ominous, pre-recorded message played over and over again with music playing inbetween each countdown. 

The FBI is investigating but so far no suspect or motive has been identified. Police do not even know if someone was inside the RV when it blew up because the blast was so intense that it was completely obliterated along with everything inside of it. 

The blast caused widespread internet and cell phone outages with issues being reports across Kentucky and Tennesse at around noon local time. 

The outage hit local 911 systems and caused the FAA to temporarily halt flights from the local airport.    

It’s unclear if the AT&T building was the target of the bomb but the vehicle was parked outside it. There are also bars, restaurants and apartments nearby which had not yet opened. 

Three people were taken to the hospital with non-serious injuries. 

On Friday evening, Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced curfew on the area around the bomb site as the investigation continues. 

‘A curfew will start at 4:30pm, Friday Dec 25. and be lifted Sunday, December 27 at 4:30pm,’ he revealed in a tweet.  

He later added that 41 separate businesses had been affected by the blast and the structures of some of the older buildings in the area had been effected. 

Tennesse governori Bill Lee has also been called on to declare the incident a civil emergency to help with the rebuild effort.  

‘It will be some time until Second Ave is back to normal,’ Cooper said. 

At an earlier press conference shortly before 10am, police spokesman Don Aaron said it was an ‘intentional act’ but he did not give any information about potential suspects or motives.  

‘We do not know whether anyone was in the RV when it exploded. I can’t tell you if there’s a potential for that scenario,’ police spokesman Don Aaron said at a press conference on Friday afternoon. 

Mayor Cooper said after surveying the scene that it ‘looks like a bomb went off’. 

The area has now been sealed off while police comb the area. 

‘The explosion was significant as you can see from the street. 

‘The police department, it’s partners, the FBI and ATF are conducting a large scale investigation.

‘We do believe the explosion was an intentional act,’ Aaron said.

In a later update, he said: ‘A number of our police dogs have been called ad are searching the area.

‘These are explosive detection dogs to make sure there are no secondary devices, out of an abundance of caution. We’re also going to be conducting searches of downtown buildings to make sure there’s no one in need of help.’ 

FBI Special Agent in charge Matt Foster made a plea to the public for information. 

‘The FBI stands with the city of Nashville today in this very tragic Christmas Day event.

‘This is our city too. We live here, we work here. We’re putting everything we have into finding who was responsible for what happened here today.  

‘There are leads that need to be pursued and technical works need to happen.’ 

Anyone with information about the incident has been asked to contact the FBI at www.fbi.gov/nashville or by calling them.  

On Friday night, star of CNBC’s The Profit Marcus Lemonis also offered a $250,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the culprit. 

It brought the reward total to $300,000 after previous smaller reward offers from Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp., FOX Sports host Clay Travis, and Lewis Country Store.  

‘If you know anything about what has happened, we’d appreciate your help.

‘Please tell us what you know – we need your help,’ Foster said.

He revealed that police started evacuating people from the area before the explosion.  

It’s unclear who called the police to report the gunshots or if they may have been a part of the recording playing from the van. Police heard the announcement being played from the vehicle when they arrived and immediately began to evacuate. 

Their actions were commended by Mayor Cooper who said they resulted in ‘so many injuries being saved’.  

Residents reporting feeling the ground shake ten blocks away. 

The blast caused damage to downtown buildings like broken windows, but no injuries have been reported and no serious harm was caused.   

‘There is an incident involving an explosion. This is an active scene. Metro Nashville Police Department and Nashville Fire Department are on the scene. 

‘There are no additional details to provide at this time,’ the Nashville Fire Department said in a statement. 

Within minutes of the blast, social media lit up with people reporting that they felt it and the ground ‘shaking’. 

Other videos emerged of small, break-out fires and people screaming in the street but miraculously no one has been seriously injured. 

Mayor Cooper said he believes the fact it was Christmas Day means there were fewer casualties. 

Speaking with assembled media later in the morning, mayor John Cooper said the area was filled with ‘a lot of broken glass and insulation that has been blown up into trees’.

He added that broken mains were sending water flooding out into the street.

‘It looks like a bomb went off,’ he said.

Cooper claimed the city’s Downtown area was quieter on Christmas morning than on other days as most residents were still asleep and were not headed out to work.

He believed that helped minimize the number of people left injured in the blast.

The FAA temporarily halted flights at Nahsville’s main airport after the telecommunications issue was reported although they expected the issue to be resolved by 3pm CT. 

Yet as of 4pm CT, the airport was still being impacted by the issues and announced that they were forced to keep some flight corriders closed for a little longer.  

According to Fox News, AT&T said that the blast damaged the central office of the telephone exchange that contained network equipment. 

The damage and outages caused were not immediately clear but disruptions were reported across parts of Kentucky and Tennessee. 

Several police departments said that the phone outages had caused trouble with their 911 system.