The mayor of Nashville, Tennessee, John Cooper, has promised that the public will "soon" get new information about the large explosion that took place in the city on 25 December.
"I expect a lot of questions will have answers relatively soon", Cooper said in an interview with CBS.
The mayor admitted that he knows just as much about the motives of the bomber as the public does, but agreed with previous assurances made by law enforcement that there was no immediate threat of new bombings in the area.
"I feel confident in repeating what the investigators said yesterday, that they think the threat is over", Cooper said.
The mayor said, however, that the idea the blast had targeted the country's communications system had crossed his mind, noting that the bomb-laden RV was parked right outside the AT&T building. AT&T recently reported that it had made "significant progress" towards restoring its services in the area after its facility was damaged in the blast.
What Happened in Nashville?
The FBI and local law enforcement visited a home in the Nashville suburb of Antioch in connection with the case, but have not revealed the reason why they searched the property. An anonymous source told the AP that the FBI considered the homeowner a person of interest, but was not necessarily a suspect in the case. Another source told CBS News that the homeowner was a 63-year-old man.
These are pictures from 2nd Avenue south. Windows were broken out from explosion area to Broadway. Please AVOID this area! Media staging is at 2nd Avenue south and KVB. pic.twitter.com/tocdpHWFgj
— Nashville Fire Dept (@NashvilleFD) December 25, 2020
The search was conducted in connection with the RV that exploded early on 25 December outside 166 2nd Ave in Nashville. Prior to the explosion, police arrived at the scene following reports of gunfire and a suspicious parked vehicle. The RV started broadcasting a warning shortly before the explosion, urging residents to evacuate the area.
Police officers at the site called the bomb squad and started evacuating people from nearby buildings and when the RV finally exploded, only a few people were injured as a result. No fatalities have been reported in connection with the incident, although investigators found tissue samples near the blast site that turned out to be human remains.
