The suspect who authorities say was responsible for the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville reportedly told his neighbor in the days before the explosion that “Nashville and the world is never going to forget me.”
Rick Laude said he saw Anthony Quinn Warner standing at his mailbox while driving on Dec. 21. Laude pulled over his car to speak with Warner and after asking how Warner’s elderly mother was doing, Laude said he casually asked Warner, “Is Santa going to bring you anything good for Christmas?”
Laude said Warner smiled and then said, “Oh, yeah, Nashville and the world is never going to forget me.”
Laude, 57, a commercial truck driver, said he didn’t think much of the remark and thought Warner only meant that “something good” was going to happen for him. He said he was “speechless” later when he read that authorities had identified Warner as the suspected bomber.
“Nothing about this guy raised any red flags,” Laude said. “He was just quiet.”
Authorities are working to determine a motive behind the explosion that damaged dozens of downtown buildings and injured three people.
“We hope to get an answer. Sometimes, it’s just not possible,” David Rausch, the director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a Monday interview on NBC’s “Today” show. “The best way to find a motive is to talk to the individual. We will not be able to do that in this case.”
Authorities say Warner was not on their radar before the explosion. A TBI records report released Monday showed that Warner’s only arrest was for a 1978 marijuana-related charge.
“It does appear that the intent was more destruction than death but again that’s all still speculation at this point as we continue in our investigation with all our partners,” Rausch said.
Officials have not provided insight into why Warner selected the particular location for the bombing, which damaged an AT&T building and disrupted cellphone service and police and hospital communications in several Southern states as the company worked to restore service.
A source close to the investigation told the Daily Mail that Warner’s father, who died in 2011 of dementia, worked for BellSouth, which was acquired by AT&T in 2006. The source said Warner was believed to be “heavily” into 5G conspiracy theories, particularly that the networks were supposedly killing people.
“The unofficial motive thus far is the suspect believed 5G was the root of all deaths in the region and he’d be hailed a hero,” the source said. “We are waiting on the digital footprint that should finally provide us with some answers.”
AT&T runs a 5G wireless network across the country, which the telecommunications giant says reaches more than 225 million Americans.
This is an excerpt from Fox News.
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