bomb plot Nashville bomber gave away his house and car in run-up to shocking Christmas blast

IN the days before he detonated a bomb in downtown Nashville on Christmas Day, Anthony Quinn Warner changed his life in ways that suggest he never intended to survive the blast that killed him and wounded three others.

Warner (63) gave away his car, telling the recipient that he had cancer.

A month before the bombing, he signed a document that transferred his long-time home in a Nashville suburb to a California woman for nothing in return.

The computer consultant also told an employer that he was retiring.

However, he didn't leave behind any obvious clues to explain why he set off the explosion in his parked vehicle or played a message warning people to flee before it damaged dozens of buildings.

While investigators tried to piece together a possible motive for the attack, a neighbour recalled a recent conversation with Warner that seemed ominous only in hindsight.

Rick Laude said he saw Warner standing outside his house less than a week before Christmas and pulled over in his car to talk.

After asking how Warner's elderly mother was doing, Mr Laude said he casually asked him: "Is Santa going to bring you anything good for Christmas?"

Warner smiled and said: "Oh, yeah, Nashville and the world is never going to forget me," Mr Laude said.

However, Mr Laude said he didn't think much of the remark and thought Warner only meant that "something good" was going to happen for him financially.

He was speechless when he learned that authorities had identified Warner as the bomber. "Nothing about this guy raised any red flags," Mr Laude said.

As investigators continued to search for a motive, body camera video released late on Monday by Nashville police offered more insight into the moments leading up to the explosion and its aftermath.

The recording from Officer Michael Sipos's camera captures officers walking past the vehicle parked across the street as the recorded warning blares, and then helping people evacuate after the thunderous blast off camera.

Car alarms and sirens wail as a police dispatch voice calls for all available personnel, and people stumble through downtown streets littered with glass.

Director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation David Rausch said authorities hope to establish a motive but sometimes simply cannot.

"The best way to find motive is to talk to the individual. We will not be able to do that in this case," Mr Rausch said.

Warner also gave away his home in Antioch, Tennessee, to a Los Angeles woman a month before the bombing.

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Online Editors