Nashville suspect’s girlfriend warned police he was building bombs a year before Christmas attack

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said Anthony Warner was “not on our radar” before he allegedly blew himself and an RV up in downtown Nashville on Christmas Day. But more than a year earlier, his girlfriend had called local police to report that he was making bombs in the camper.

Warner’s girlfriend, who has not been publicly identified, warned the Metro Nashville Police Department in August 2019 that the 63-year-old man “was building bombs in the RV trailer at his residence,” according to a report obtained late Tuesday by the Tennessean.

Anthony Warner was killed in the blast.
Anthony Warner was killed in the blast. (AP)

Her lawyer, Raymond Throckmorton III, told police that Warner “frequently talks about the military and bomb making” and “knows what he is doing and is capable of making a bomb.”

Responding police found Warner’s RV on the property with “several security cameras and wires attached to a alarm sign on the front door,” but the vehicle was fenced off, so they left, according to the report.

“They saw no evidence of a crime and had no authority to enter his home or fenced property,” MNPD Don Aaron told the Tennessean.

A vehicle destroyed in a Christmas Day explosion remains on the street Tuesday.
A vehicle destroyed in a Christmas Day explosion remains on the street Tuesday. (Mark Humphrey / AP)

Local police then handed their findings over to the FBI, which “checked their holdings and found no records on Warner at all,” Aaron said.

Aaron claimed that Throckmorton wouldn’t allow police to inspect the RV, but the lawyer denied doing so Tuesday.

“Somebody, somewhere dropped the ball,” Throckmorton told the Tennessean.

Police have identified Warner as the lone suspect in the Christmas suicide bombing, which left three people injured early Friday morning.

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