Police Say Christmas Morning Explosion in Nashville Appears 'Intentional'
About 20 buildings were damaged and three people injured when an RV exploded. "It looks like a bomb went off," Nashville Mayor John Cooper told a local newspaper.

A vehicle explosion that rocked downtown Nashville, Tennessee, on Christmas morning "appears to have been an intentional act" according to local police.
The Metro Nashville Police Department says an investigation is continuing after an "explosion linked to a vehicle" occurred around 6:30 a.m. near 166 Second Ave in the city's downtown core.
"This appears to have been an intentional act," the Metro Nashville Police Department said in a statement posted to Twitter. "Law enforcement is closing downtown streets as investigation continues."
According to WKRN, the explosion originated with a parked RV and caused damage to several nearby buildings. At least three people were injured seriously enough to be transported to a local hospital, but there are no reports of any deaths connected to the explosion.
Videos posted to social media from the scene of the explosion show widespread damage to buildings along the block, with windows blown out and evidence of fire damage.
#UPDATE: NEW up close video of the #nashvilleexplosion
Credit: Kelly Bolyard / Facebook pic.twitter.com/WXxLrVmAxJ
— Big Rick Radio (@OnAirWithRick) December 25, 2020
Security footage obtained by WKRN from a nearby condominium shows a bright flash and violent shaking at the moment the explosion occurred.
Here is security camera footage of a condo at 309 church in the Exchange Lofts. Video from Aaron and Tiffany Trevethan #nashvilleexplosion pic.twitter.com/bM34IESzvy
— Meaghan Thomas (@megtomwx) December 25, 2020
Nashville Mayor John Cooper told The Tennesseean that about 20 buildings were damaged and said "it looks like a bomb went off."
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There’s two kinds of people in this world: people who like country, and people who don’t.
New country, rock country or classic?
Outlaw country.
And old country, but not just no, but fuck no to pop country.
Viva Charlene!
New country is recycled '80s pop with a twangy singer.
Formulaic songwriting, vapid lyrics, hot guitarist, primary audience of drunken girls.
Same shit different decade.
I thought right-wing hicks either liked country or Western music? What is the difference between country and Western music?
Out here; It's only wanna-be "hicks" downtown that like country and shiny boots. If it's shiny it's "wanna-be".. 🙂
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Hey look it’s shreek in his socks!
When something explodes in Tennessee, how do you know when it’s on purpose?
When it wasn't a distillery?
Proud Boy Qanon MAGAts…bank on it
Those same MAGA's that seized downtown Portland and assaulted poor Jussie no doubt.
No the inbred cousin fuckers from rural Clark county, WA who drive down to Portland to shoot people with paintballs and fight Antifa. Despite no one wanting them anywhere near Portland. Those MAGA hicks.
Your screen name makes me think you're a rational and tolerant person we should all listen to.
(I'll put the /s tag here because I know you'll miss the sarcasm in my comment).
Your name plus comment leads me to believe your a cousin fucker!
Fuck off hick!
KAR must think The Hitchhiker's Guide is big in rural Tennessee.
Didn't get the reference because I'm not a nerd
I think you mean:
"Didnt get the reference because Im dumb and dont know anything but my personal hate for hicks, which in a way turns me into my own kind of hick".
No I meant I didn't get the reference because I'm not a hick you goddamn hick!
Oh and my name is a joke. I hate Mormons!
*the first hick should be nerd.
Me: *wipes flecks of spittle off my shirt as I think that KAR will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes*
KAR: *rages against people more educated than him while not getting the reference to a book he's never read (not that that narrows it down much)*
Haha. Awwwww, no one wants them there?
Sucks to have to share your world with other people, don’t it?
What a doosh.
When they come down just to cause trouble fuck em. People in SW Washington are fucking dirty, white trash pieces of shit. If they wanna hold a Trump parade or rally they should hold it in there own shithole towns.
Sadly you're probably right. Right-wing terrorism is a plague that can't keep be ignored any longer. Also Biden4liberty is a great screen-name, I too think he will have a positive impact on liberty.
Biden
BinLaden
Coincidence?
"...I too think..."
From what you post here, that's highly unlikely.
Agreed. And given the negative impact on liberty for 47 years with Biden in office, it definitely isn't enlightened or thinking, just an atheist.
Why is he stupid Sevo?
Have you ever done blow or you some kind of uptight square? If you tried it once and felt "addled" it was probably mostly Meth because you live in a rural shithole.
Do you even drink or are you some kind of pussy Mormon?
Would explain why you're so goddamn angry and stupid.
Biden4liberty is a great screen-name, like Ministry of Love or the Democratic Peoples Republic.
Talking to yourself again Shreek.
And yet 90% of the violence this past year was from crazed Biden supporters roaming the streets.
Naw. The only difference between the R's and the D's are which aspect of your life they insist on controlling. More laws, less liberty.
Unmentioned in this article police were responding to the area near the explosion based on calls of shots fired made beforehand. This could indicate the intentional targeting of police.
Right wing MAGA Proud boys are always the enemy of cops.
*Rolls eyes.*
This too.
Eerie video.
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1342521448414539782?s=19
BREAKING: Audio warning was being broadcast before explosion rocked downtown Nashville. Video shows moment of blast.
Makes me think the cause was a gas leak. Loudspeaker warnings, door-to-door calls for evacuation — typical of a gas leak.
Except for the rv had a bullhorn stating that there was a bomb on board due to detonate in 15 minutes. It also said to evacuate the area. Then a timer was displayed counting down from 15, at which point it blew up sometime after the 15 minutes (probably 10 minutes longer than the timer was alleging).
But nobody has produced a recording of it saying that, just one witness who thinks she recalls it that way. The recording we do have just says to evacuate, makes no mention of a bomb or timing.
"This could indicate the intentional targeting of police."
It might, if the RV wasn't broadcasting over loudspeakers a, "Get out of here!" message. Calling in shots fired a bit ahead of the detonation, gets cops to the area early. Not to target them, but to get them to cordon off the area and chase out any homeless or drunks who might otherwise get killed by the blast.
It looks at first glance, similar to those IRA car bombs in London, back in the day: break lots of expensive stuff, but don't kill anybody. The bomber would have needed a much bigger bomb to do more than scratch the concrete on one of those old Ma Bell switching station buildings. Those things were meant to be war-proof, near as possible.
Brightly lit explosion, much more light than in video of military ordnance detonating, or the Mythbusters blowing up a car with C-4. TATP detonates with a bright glare, IIRC. I wonder what they used? Or what their statement or demands will be? This would be really concerning if it happened in a few cities and not just Nashville.
Outside straight draw, it's a local business owner trying to disguise Jewish lightning as an act of terrorism.
It makes even less sense, at first glance, than the Vegas shooting
IRA bombs killed people.
Yeah, which was really counterproductive, as they found out. Ordinary Mairead and Seamus didn't feel sympathetic after they watched images of newly-dismembered four year olds on the telly. Blow up Royal Army guys---even better if it's the same guys who were pointing rifles at you while you were walking to the grocers---or rich people's stuff in Belgravia, OTOH, and who cares?
Later, they tried large car bombs in places like The City, with pre-explosion warning. Not enough warning, a lot of the time. Hundreds of millions to billions of pounds in damages---Baltic Exchange, Bishopsgate---but few ordinary people getting blown up. Difficult to stop, very embarrassing for the government. They fucked up a lot too. Warrington's bomb killed 2 kids in '93. But eventually, the Brits got tired of shelling out a quarter billion pounds everytime one of the things went off, and though they'd never admit it, got serious about asking Sinn Fein what it would take to stop this shit.
They certainly weren’t looking for a body count.
Broadcast warnings, and an explosion in downtown at 6am on Christmas morning. There was a physical target.
Apparently, the guy committed suicide outside the AT&T communications center in order to do something about the 5G networks that were being used to spy on Americans.
RV ban or you're with the terrorists.
This might go a little too far but it might be what we have to do to stop these monsters.
Do we even know the explosion came from the RV, rather than the RV's being near the center of the explosion?
We can't wait to find out.
Blm antifa or jihad sjws most likely.
Nope. Just some conspiracy theorist who was paranoid of 5G networks.
Commenters on this story in the Washington Post all know it was MAGA hat wearing Proud Boys. Amazing intelligence sources they have.
Nashville is ground zero of the leftist enemy. Who knew?
At HuffPost, too, but with more misuse of their/they're/there.
Proper grammar and paywalls are racist.
The right wing war on Christmas begins!
SleepyJoe knows it was intentional and he knows who did it and why.
He will say so after his nap. I
If the bomb was intentionally detonated at 6:30 AM the intent wasn't mass murder. We need to understand which buildings it was parked in front of.
Or the intent was to kill cops. From the AP article:
Metro Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron said police responded to a call of shots fired just before 6 a.m. but found no immediate signs of a shooting, although officers noticed a suspicious vehicle and called for a hazardous unit. While they waited, the vehicle exploded.
BLM!!!
That's not politically acceptable. Must be the IRA.
Baloney. If you wanted to kill cops (or any first responders), you do it with two-stage bombs using IED tactics refined in Iraq.
This has more earmarks of a gang attack. Nashville's not a someplace I would have thought of as an organized crime hub but people didn't think of Cleveland that way before the wave of bombings in the 1970s.
Maybe, but antifa are not as smart as they think they are/portray themselves, and definitely not as skilled. A two-stage explosive attack would take timing, observation, and skill. And courage, of a sort. A single explosion is well within the capability of both left and right-leaning knuckleheads, or gangs.
No doubt. But people that unsophisticated are also too unsophisticated to make the kind of "targeted" attack against police that the department spokesman claimed.
Unsophisticated? Maybe not targeting cops, but this was planned:
From The Tennesean:
Just before the blast, witnesses in the area reported a dire warning coming from the RV: “Evacuate now. There is a bomb. A bomb is in this vehicle and will explode."
Then, the voice started a 15-minute countdown.
Jesus Christ. It has started.
Except it wasn't witnesses, plural, just one, whom they're all repeating. Meanwhile the recording we do have of the recording makes no mention of a bomb, and is consistent with what a gas leak detector annunciator would say.
Or someone who might not about military time, or is too dumb for simple math.
Numbers are hard.
*know. No edit button for Christmas. Maybe Boxing Day or Kwanzaa.
The vehicle was also broadcasting an evacuation warning.
It was parked in front the of the "Batman Building" which is the tallest building in Tennessee. It also has offices for AT&T and evidently a communications switchboard for the region. Regional communications have been disrupted.
There was a food court on the other side of the street but I dont think the Melting Pot was the target.
P.S.
Unmentioned in this article police were responding to the area near the explosion based on calls of shots fired made beforehand. This could indicate the intentional targeting of police.
The vehicle was broadcasting an evacuation warning. That could indicate no intent to kill anyone.
Or no intent period, just a 'bot warning of a gas leak.
No, according to the reports the warning specifically used the word "bomb". A gas leak alarm, even if it had a verbal warning (most don't) wouldn't use the word "bomb".
unreason staff "bomb" here on a daily basis. Their joke propaganda are full of gas.
But you can listen to the recording on YouTube, and it makes no mention of "bomb". So are you going to believe reports or your own ears?
Sounds like a leaky propane refrigerator to me.
I suppose the official initial response has to be "intentional bombing" to keep the fires of public fear stoked during the holidays. That way in two weeks when nobody remembers they can come out and say "meh, faulty valve" in a one paragraph story buried deep beneath obits.
That was my first thought, propane leakage, but could also be for a heater or stove.
Is it possible for the fuel of a LNG vehicle to leak and form a gas-air cloud in the vicinity? In that case it might've been from the RV after all.
Apparently someone in the vicinity turned on an audio loop to a loudspeaker telling everyone within earshot to evacuate, and there were also people going door to door telling people to evacuate. That's what would happen if someone detected a gas leak.
You’re a fucking idiot.
The idiot is on the other end; see Roberta's comment below.
Now I think there was no human intervention, but the gas leak detector's own annunciator.
according to reports I have read20 buildings suffered structural damage. An RV propane tank is not going to cause that much damage.
There are also reports that the RV was broadcasting an evacuation warning.
Because you've seen - how many propane tank explosions?
You get the tank itself, because of the lack of oxygen is a lesser danger than the leaked propane air gas cloud, yeah? It's like the gasoline myth - I've put out cigarettes in a coffee can full of gasoline. The trick is it has to be full so the volatile gasses readily spill over the edge when the butt hits the liquid, which is far more stable.
Oh, BTW, many motor homes, or RVs in local parlance, have alarms that broadcast warnings when the propane system goes wonky. You get that, yeah? It's simple. Propane heat, propane refrigerators, propane stoves. All are subject to a simple leak that can lead to an explosive gas mixture and not wanting to kill the occupants, there's an alarm.
I actually own a travel trailer with a propane leak alarm. The alarm is just a very annoying tone. It is not a verbal warning to evacuate.
I own several propane tanks. I doubt you've every seen one. I've never seen one explode, but I know how much propane they contain. It's a lot less than you probably think.
Yours have had just a very annoying tone. Look up "annunciator" and you'll find alarms with much more specific audio. This one is a favor to the neighborhood, who on hearing a mere screech might not think of a gas leak but will respond to a warning to evacuate the area.
I doubt a gas leak "annunciator" would use the word "bomb". According to reports the warning coming from the RV in question specifically used the word "bomb".
But the reports are contradicted by the recording of the warning that you can listen to yourself online.
"It looks like a bomb went off," Nashville Mayor John Cooper told a local newspaper.
No shit, Sherlock.
Did you see Mayor Cooper laughing while talking about bombs going off? Guy's in way over his head.
I think we've solved this one:
https://www.rvhometown.com/best-rv-propane-detectors/
The alarm sets off the looped audio heard on one of the Twitter-linked videos telling people that if they can hear it they should evacuate immediately. Apparently it was in the van, and it operated as it should have, and probably saved some injuries.
Interesting, thanks.
That... makes more sense than anything else at the moment.
If only we had investigative agencies and a news media that could point such possibilities out.
None of the descriptions at the link you cite describe alarms that would be verbal evacuation warnings. I have a travel trailer with such an alarm. It's just a high volume tone similar to most smoke alarms.
Three of them mention speaking voice notifications. #7, #9, #10.
No idea what they say, though. Definitely different from a beep or tone or klaxon.
Okay, but the reports out of Nashville say the warning from the RV was specifically using the word bomb. I rather doubt that these propane leak alarms use that word.
All those reports stem from one witness who fled and was going by her recollection. The audio recording we do have just says, "All buildings in the area must be evacuated," 3 times, then "If you can hear this message, evacuate now," 3 times. I think the lady's just mistaken in her recollection of it saying "bomb" or mentioning time to an explosion.
I've also heare reports that bomb was used in the warning coming from police officers that hear it.
And even if that's wrong, "All buildings in the area must be evacuated" is not wording I would expect from a gas leak alarm for an RV. RV's have removeable LPG tanks with their own shut off valves built into the tanks. If an RV gas leak alarm has any verbal warning, the first instruction would be to shut off the gas tanks, not to evacuate.
But a warning to shut off the gas would be useless if the vehicle is unattended as it was here. People in the vicinity don't have the key to get in there; meanwhile firemen will know what to do, and everyone else should evacuate.
If you listen closely to the recording, you can even tell where the variable wording is that can be programmed depending on the type of installation. If it's in a building, it would just say "this building" or "the building". If it's an open campus, just "the area". In this case, a RV which might be parked who-knows-where, "all buildings in the area" makes perfect sense. It's a clumsy edit you'll hear on the audio.
No, but there are alarms (typically installed in buildings, but I'm sure someone's thought to put one in a vehicle) with annunciators that loop a warning of a specific danger. One of them on YouTube unaccountably alternates between a warning and music!
Maybe, but evacuation is the wrong warning for an RV. If you do have a gas leak in the RV's gas plumbing, you don't evacuate, you shut off the LPG tank(s), and maybe disconnect them from the RV.
Yeah, if you're in the RV to start with. If the owner's sleeping somewhere, as appears to be the case here, what then?
See https://staticpro.comelitgroup.com/storage/2018/01/169/2G31000548.pdf starting at page 16. This is an automated voice that comes on automatically on detection of the condition.
Does a LPG gas cloud explosion put out that much light? (I know BLEVE's can, just from the big glowing expanding fireball.) Plus, what's the explosive power from one tank's contents, adequately mixed with air to form an explosive ratio?
I guess it could explain the damage. I see lots of broken glass and busted up interior sheetrock and some interior framing, but I don't see facade collapse or major building destruction in any of the photos.
1. There is no such thing as an LPG gas cloud. LPG stands for Liquified Petroleum Gas (generally propane), and it's liquified under pressure, not cryogenically. Once it's released and forms a cloud, it's not liquified any more.
2. Probably, if there is enough gas in the cloud. It's unlikely that an RV LPG tank would have enough propane in it for the size explosion that has been reported.
Might be, if it filled the RV's interior.
Destroy the RV, yes. The size explosion that has been reported, no.
Besides, if you emptied the whole tank into the interior of the RV and kept the gas in the RV, you probably have too much gas an not enough oxygen for a clean detonation.
A fuel/air explosion is highly sensitive to the ratio of fuel to oxygen.
Reports from the Nashville FD & PD indicate structural damage to 20 buildings, but to to the extend that buildings were in immediate danger of collapse. Structural in this context means damage to the foundation and/or load bearing elements.
That's not necessarily beyond what a fuel/air bomb can do, but almost certainly beyond the amount of gas in one RV LPG tank.
Natural gas explosions in suburban homes can be surprisingly powerful. As in, completely destroying the house and demolishing much of the surrounding houses.
That document is a building fire alarm system not an RV LP leak detector.
Yes, but you think those elements never occur together? I just couldn't find one specific to RVs online with an annunciator, but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. There are anti-theft alarms on vehicles that just emit annoying tones, and there are others that "talk"; why wouldn't that be the same for other types of alarms?
Okay, but evacuation is the wrong warning for an RV propane leak alarm.
RVs have easily disconnected LPG tanks. If camping for an extended period, you can just swap and empty tank for a full one with no/minimal tools.
These tanks have a valve built into the tank itself. The proper response if you do have a leak is not evacuation, but shut off the LPG tanks.
Sure, if you have access to the tank at the time. If you're going to be away for an extended time, you should also turn off the valve, but what if you forget?
Most likely a turkey fryer accident - - - - - - -
Merry Christmas.
It’s a proof of concept warning from some faction, probably not at the local level, more like espionage level.
"some faction"
Judging by the rest of 2020, it was "crazed Biden supporters."
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Active shooters apparently in Grapevine, TX and Miami, FL.
Don't know details, so might just be more or less run-of-the-mill stuff reported because people are on heightened alarm.
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OK, so let's compare likelihoods of bombing vs. accident. Suppose it was a bombing. With the warning and timing, clearly the object was to minimize casualties. So what was the target? The only one said to be likely was the AT&T building. But how much damage was done to it? Apparently enough to disrupt communications for about an hour.
What would you use? Ideally a shaped charge HE if you really wanted to be selective about targeting. It's said authorities have already ruled out that HE was used. But also, you wouldn't waste a RV, you'd use a cheaper van, which would also be less conspicuous. Like, why would someone park a RV in a business district on Christmas morning?
But also, you wouldn't warn people for as much as a half hour (as has been said) before the blast, unless you were monitoring the situation from nearby and detonated it manually rather than automatically via timer.
OTOH if it was an accident, nobody would have control of the timing.
I've heard authorities claiming it's a suicide bomber. But I don't know why, right now, they think this is intentional. There's a ton of misinformation already out there.
I just wish we had hard facts to operate on instead of conjecture. by now they should have some idea whether it's consistent with a propane/fuel explosion.
It would clearly be intentional if the earwitness reports of a warning coming from the van saying it had a bomb, giving a countdown, and including intervals of music were correct. We have about the final minute of the actual warning available for public listening via YouTube that sounds completely different. So either the "echo chamber" of "the news" is repeating a mistaken or mendacious account, or the recording had a long program with varying content on it. The stories about a countdown have gotten confusing and contradictory, some saying the time to the explosion turned out to be significantly more than the countdown said, and others saying it exploded before finishing the countdown. I think at this point we're just getting the random misinformation that comes as the product of a game of "telephone", so I'm trusting only what's on recordings of the actual event.
Turns out, 5G causes terrorism.
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