The FBI has released their initial report on the Nashville Christmas Day bombing. And it might give us more questions than answers.
The RV bombing, carried out by Anthony Warner on the early morning hours of December 25, injured three and caused millions of dollars in damage to nearby buildings, as well as knocking out cell phone and 911 service to many in the area for hours afterwards.
After the identity of the bomber was revealed, we started to learn more information about the man behind the devastation.
Neighbors described him as “kind of a hermit,” and a former co-worker remembered Warner as a “hippie” who hated cops.
Then it was revealed that Warner had mailed letters to friends discussing 9/11 and moon landing conspiracy theories, as well as his belief in lizard people controlling the earth and tweaking human DNA.
It was also reported that Warner’s girlfriend had warned authorities in 2019 that he was making bombs in his RV.
Well now we have some information from the FBI.
The report, which comes after the agency recovered more than 3,000 lbs of evidence from the blast site and conducted more than 250 interviews, found that Warner’s actions were “an intentional effort to end his own life” driven, at least in part, by “a totality of life stressors – including paranoia, long-held individualized beliefs adopted from several eccentric conspiracy theories, and the loss of stabilizing anchors and deteriorating interpersonal relationships.”
The agency also specifically stated that they determined Warner’s actions were not related to terrorism, finding no indication that Warner was motivated by any kind of ideological motive to use violence to bring about political or social change.
And while there was a lot of speculation early on that Warner had chosen his location because of the AT&T data center on 2nd Avenue, the FBI found no indication that Warner had any personal grievances that would have caused him to focus on individuals or entities around the area where he detonated the RV. The report goes on to find that Warner specifically chose the location for the bombing to be impactful, yet minimize the likelihood of causing undue injuries.
The FBI cautions that “only Warner knows the real reason why he detonated his explosive device,” and doesn’t provide any further indication of a motive or any of the specific conspiracy theories that motivated Warner.
So while we finally have some clarification from the FBI that the bombing was not thought to be targeted at any individual or entity, and wasn’t motivated by any political ideology, the question still remains: Why did Anthony Warner park an RV bomb in downtown Nashville on Christmas Day, play a warning for others to stay away, and blow himself up?
Unfortunately, it seems like we may never know the real answer to that question.
And finally, once again, big shoutout to the six police officers that worked to evacuate people from the nearby buildings prior to the blast.
