Police officers from Metro Nashville responded to a call of shots fired Friday morning when they encountered a motor home parked in front of an AT&T building at 166 2nd Avenue North, police spokesman Don Aaron said.
Police saw no immediate evidence of shots fired, Aaron said at a news conference, but something about the RV prompted the officers to ask the department’s hazardous equipment department.
The bomb threat responded to downtown when the RV exploded at 6:30 a.m. CT, Aaron said.
“We think this was a deliberate act,” Aaron said. “There has been significant damage to the infrastructure there on 2nd Avenue North.”
According to Nashville Fire spokesman Joseph Pleasant, three people were transported from the crime scene to hospitals, but none of them were in critical condition.
The force of the explosion knocked out one officer, Aaron said, and caused hearing loss in another – hopefully temporary, he said. But no officer was significantly injured.
The FBI told CNN that the Memphis field office is taking over the investigation.
There were no known credible threats in the Nashville area that would indicate an impending attack on or before Christmas, a federal law enforcement source told CNN.
A second law enforcement source said federal authorities are not aware of any increased chatter at the national level by known extremist groups that would indicate credible plans to carry out attacks around the holiday season.
Acting US Attorney General Jeff Rosen, according to his spokesman, was briefed early this morning of the incident “and ordered that all resources of the DOJ be made available to assist in the investigation.”
The White House said President Donald Trump has also been briefed on the incident and “regularly updated.”
Tennessee government Bill Lee said in a statement on Twitter that the state would “provide whatever means needed” to determine the cause of the explosion.
‘Everything in the street was on fire’
Eyewitness Buck McCoy told CNN that the explosion occurred right in front of his house, blowing his windows in.
“Everything in the street was on fire,” he said. “There were three cars that were completely engulfed.”
McCoy said he was originally awakened by what he believed gunshots were about 10 minutes prior to the explosion. He got up and looked out the window, he said, but went back to bed when he saw nothing.
Asked if the sound he heard could be anything other than gunshots, McCoy stressed that he believed it was, saying he owns a gun and is going to shoot, so he knows the sound of gunshots.
Researchers are doing a secondary search for downtown buildings, especially those on 2nd Avenue, to make sure no one needs help, Aaron said.
Prior to the explosion, agents had gone from door to door or apartment to apartment to inform residents of the situation. A man walking a dog on 2nd Avenue was diverted by an officer just before the RV exploded, he said.
Officials do not know if anyone was in the vehicle when the explosion occurred, he said. Police are not aware of any other detonation attempts.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper told CNN that dozens of buildings have been damaged, mostly due to glass blowing. Some buildings have been evacuated, the mayor said, but he did not know how many buildings or how many people were affected.
“Right now, there’s just a lot of glass damage on 2nd Avenue,” he said.
The street is on the edge of Tennessee’s hospitality and tourist district in an old, historic part of the city.
“Fortunately there are not many people here,” he said.
McCoy told CNN that when he looked out after the explosion, trees had fallen and broken glass was everywhere. He saw people leaving their apartments with their animals. Firefighters told him to get as far away from the area as possible, he said.
“There’s just nothing left on 2nd Avenue,” he said.
CNN’s Paul P. Murphy, Evan Perez, Josh Campbell and Devon Sayers contributed to this report.