Authorities have found what they believe to be human remains near the site of the recreational vehicle explosion in downtown Nashville on Christmas morning, police Chief John Drake told reporters.
Drake said tissue that was found will be examined to see whether it is human remains. He could not say how close the tissue was to the site where a motor home exploded.
CBS News first reported information about the possible human remains.
Mayor John Cooper said the blast was caused by a “deliberate bomb.”
More people could have been hurt, authorities said, but six police officers evacuated nearby residents when they heard a recording coming from the vehicle that said a bomb was about to explode.
Three civilians who were injured are in stable condition. At least 41 businesses were damaged, the mayor said.
Witnesses recalled the terrifying moments before the explosion and its aftermath. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” resident Betsy Williams told CNN. “It shook everything.”
Latest developments
The FBI field office in Memphis is leading the investigation and Special Agent in Charge Matt Foster urged the public to submit any tips or information.
• One witness said three vehicles were among the many objects on fire after the blast.
• AT&T spokesman Jim Greer told CNN that the company’s network hub in the city was damaged in the explosion and service in the Nashville area was affected.
• Mayor Cooper issued a curfew for the area surrounding the explosion site. The curfew lasts until 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
Recorded voice counted down
Metro Nashville Police Department officers were responding to a call of shots fired around 5:30 a.m. CT Friday when they found a motor home parked in front of an AT&T transmission building at 166 2nd Avenue North.
Nashville Vice Mayor Jim Shulman told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that a female voice was speaking in the warning message played from the RV before the explosion.
“There were a number of people who did evacuate and then we know of some people, it didn’t go off when the message said it would and so people started coming back in, and then it went off,” he explained.
Officers saw no immediate evidence of shots fired but they requested the department’s hazardous devices unit and started to evacuate neighborhood residents, police said.
The RV exploded at 6:30 a.m. CT as the bomb squad was responding, police spokesman Don Aaron said.
“We do believe this to have been an intentional act,” he said.
Authorities: No credible threats signaling impending attack before Christmas
The force of the explosion knocked down one officer, Aaron said, and caused hearing loss in another — hopefully temporarily, he said. But no officers were significantly injured.
