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Nashville P.D. Says, Significant Explosion Downtown was Intentional. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired December 25, 2020 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[10:00:00]

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Alison Kosik. Let's begin this hour with more on our breaking news.

An explosion in downtown Nashville this morning that police are calling intentional. We just received this new video, and you can see here, the blast caused extensive damage to businesses downtown. This video shot, as multiple fires burned and emergency crews were rushing to the scene.

Police are saying a vehicle was involved in the incident and they're saying, once again, this was an intentional explosion.

Let's bring in Peter Licata. He is a CNN Law Enforcement Analyst. And he previously led the FBI Bomb Squad in New York. Peter, great to see you.

Can you hear me? Can we get his audio going? Let me see if we can get his audio fixed. Peter?

Okay, while we try to get his audio fixed --

PETER LICATA, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (voice over): Good morning, Alison. Merry Christmas.

KOSIK: Okay. Peter, you can hear me?

LICATA: I can, sorry about that.

KOSIK: Great, that's fine. Walk me through what authorities are going through right now. This is an extensive impact scene. There is metal, there are burned out vehicles. What are they looking for?

LICATA: Well, the first thing we do, any law enforcement, fire safety, when you arrive to the scene, it is public safety. So we want to evacuate the wounded, evacuate the injured and assess the situation. Then also assess for officer safety. Once the wounded are evacuated from the scene, the crime scene or the accident scene, then they have we have to worry about officer safety, so, first responders safety. So that's gas lines, it's electrical lines, it's any structural damages, such as buildings that could affect law enforcement's action as far as investigating the scene further.

Once that is situated and a cordon is established at that crime scene, then a very methodical, deliberate crime scene process begins. And that first is to determine whether this is potentially an accident or a criminal investigation.

And it is always assessed when law enforcement arrive to a crime scene and arson and an explosion such as this, that it is always taken on initially as a criminal investigation. Then they use their training and their insight and the clues and witness interviews and things that are discovered throughout the process to determine whether or not it turns from a criminal investigation to -- they'll be able to determine whether or not this was just potentially accidental.

KOSIK: The vehicle where the explosion is said to have originated, do you think it is going to net any evidence at all?

LICATA: Well, that is one of the main portions that is going to be searched. So, you just kind of start at what we call the origin of the incident, so in this case the explosion or the seed or the crater, and that is what they're going to look for.

They're going to sort through the wreckage there, the damage. They're going to look for anything that could indicate that this is criminal. They're going to look for potential parts of if this was an explosion device associated with this incident. They're going to look to clues that would lead them down that path to make that assessment, or, if it is accidental, they're going to be able to turn that based on the lack of the evidence that they uncover.

KOSIK: What do they pictures tell you about what type of explosive was used?

LICATA: That is a really hard assessment. One of the things that we always look for for first responders is that is for a laboratory to determine. But you always look for basic things like what is the initial color of the smoke and we'll actually ask witnesses what they saw, if they saw a color of the smoke. In dark color smoker, if there is explosives involved, it leads to one type of explosive. Lighter white colored smoke will lead you to another type of explosive. But that is a little bit too early to take an assessment on based on the fact there was a very large vehicular fire, you're always going to get the dark smoke.

KOSIK: And CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has been covering this story since it broke. Shimon, go ahead, I know you wanted to ask Peter a question.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi, Peter. A question for you is, in terms of the police have already -- I mean, pretty significantly for them to come out so soon and call this an intentional act, what would they need to make such a quick assessment? How would they go about in making such a quick assessment?

LICATA: Well, that assessment is going to be based -- I can't speak for the investigators on scene to make that determination. But what they're looking for initially, they're pulling CCTV video, surveillance video from the area based on when that vehicle -- how long that vehicle was there. They're interviewing the victims, which are now are witnesses. They're interviewing any other witnesses.

And they are conducting a logical investigation. We call it the inside investigation, that is the part of the investigation that is happening within the yellow tape of that crime scene. Based on what they're finding, they are able to make assessments to determine whether or not this is, in fact, intentional.

At the same time that inside investigation, that information is being relayed to a joint command post.

[10:05:01]

It is being relayed from this case probably from your Nashville Police Department, your local authorities, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the FBI, to use FBI assets to start the external investigation, which is traditional investigation, such as interviews, forensics, that CCTV pull -- pulling data, pulling cell phone coverage and any other type of coverage that may help them make that determination.

KOSIK: Okay. Authorities gave a press conference a short time ago. I want to go to the tape and let you hear these details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON AARON, METRO NASHVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: Before 6:00 this morning, the police department received a call of a suspicious vehicle on 2nd Avenue North outside of the AT&T building. And an officer responded, and after assessing the vehicle, had reason to call our hazardous devises unit. The hazardous devices unit en route to the downtown area when an explosion linked to that vehicle took place at 6:30. The explosion was significant, as you can see from the street there on 2nd Avenue.

Now, the police department, its federal partners, the FBI, ATF, are conducting a large scale investigation to this point. We do believe that the explosion was an intentional act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Peter, I want to go to you and ask you a question based on what he said at beginning, that he thinks the explosion happened outside of the AT&T building. Is there something significant about where the explosion happens and what the motivations could be of who allegedly did this?

LICATA: Well, that is one of the things you have to look at, it's who is your potential target. Was the target the AT&T building? It's across the river from the stadium. Was there an event to be scheduled outside in Tennessee, outside that stadium, whether it would be a football game or a concert, whatever the live event would be that might be happening during the time or prior to that explosion.

So where the explosion happens is always one of the things that has to be considered with regard to a criminal investigation and who is our target. Then law enforcement will go ahead and start making those logical assessments and questions to the owners and the managers of the AT&T building about threats and anything of that nature.

KOSIK: Seeing just how big this impact is, that the radius of this explosion, can you somehow decipher what kind of explosives or how much explosives were used in this explosion?

LICATA: That is a hard assessment to do. There is too many factors that have -- that go into place there and for me to make an assessment would really be doing the investigators injustice.

KOSIK: And you said that authorities are also relying on CCTV cameras. The hope is that those cameras were working. So often, we hear about, oftentimes, these cameras don't work. What do authorities do if they weren't on at the time?

LICATA: Well, they're going to be pulling every CCTV camera, every surveillance camera in that area, so on corners, bank, ATM machines, whatever they have. And that is a potential lead. So they're going -- those videos will be exploited. If it is grainy or substandard video, they'll be sent to the FBI, most likely, to be enhanced through technology. And if video is not at all available, then it is personal in-person interviews of witnesses all the way back to the time that they think that vehicle may have been staged there.

KOSIK: One thing that comes to mind as today is Christmas, the downtown area was virtually empty, apparently. Three people were injured, yes, but this could have been much worse as far as the injuries go if this was done, let's say, on a week day. What do you think the motivations are of the person who may have done this or people?

LICATA: Yes, that's an excellent question. Obviously, once you potentially determine who the victim is, or who the victims are, who the target was, then you could understand what the motivation may be. Until you start to assess those -- the totality of the circumstances, it is hard to say what the motivation is.

Obviously, it is a quiet street. And the device went off some time after 6:00 in the morning Central Time, so it is really hard to assess what the -- what the criminal, what was trying to target here and what their motivation was.

KOSIK: Peter, when you first saw these pictures, and these are incredible pictures here of this explosion in downtown Nashville, talk to me about what went through your mind?

LICATA: Well, you know, I just use -- you use your experience based on having worked quite a few of these investigations, unfortunately, in my career, is you start to put yourself in those investigators' shoes, which is the first thing you have to do is eliminate what we call tunnel vision. You have to see the entire picture. Obviously, you're more worried about public safety, the safety of the victims, getting them off and out of the crime scene to be assessed and to get medical care.

[10:10:06]

Then you worry about your team and your safety and your team's safety and other first responders' safety.

By avoiding that kind of tunnel vision, as we like to say, it is going to allow the head investigator there, the lead investigator working that crime scene to better assess and take in all of the evidence and make assessments to follow up to conduct a logical investigation and hopefully reach the proper individual that perpetrated this event.

KOSIK: CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has been gathering details about what has happened here. Shimon, are you with me?

PROKUPECZ: Yes, I'm here. Hi, Alison.

KOSIK: Hi. Did you find anything out about how the three victims are doing and are there more that you've learned about?

PROKUPECZ: No. So far, we have just the three that the fire department in their press conference talked about and miraculously, really, just when you think about -- when you look at the extent of this damage, that none of them suffered any serious injuries.

One of the things that about area is that it is mostly an entertainment area, right? So you have businesses, restaurants, bars, those kinds of establishments there, which probably obviously were empty. This happened just as the sun was rising there in Downtown Nashville.

There are some residential buildings nearby and those were some of the people that were in those buildings, those are some of the people that were taken to the hospital. But the injuries are not believed to be serious.

So right now, obviously, for the FBI and for the ATF, which is now on scene there, as Peter was talking about, the key thing is going to be, who put this R.V. there, because by all accounts now we have from police saying that this was intentional. Someone parked this R.V. Someone called the police and said this R.V. was there and something suspicious about it. Think about this. This is just after 6:00 A.M. when they get this call. It is not like people are out on the street walking around.

So it could be that the person who placed the R.V. there called the police to try and lure them in. But it is within a short period of time from police arriving that this explodes and causes such extensive damage for blocks. People felt this some nine blocks away. People were able to feel the impact of this explosion.

So that is something that the police and probably the federal agencies there are going to take over this investigation. Because right now certainly with the idea that this was an intentional, a bomb, it would seem at this point, with such massive force exploded in that area is going to bring in a lot of federal officials, certainly the FBI and the ATF. But like I said, I mean, miraculously, we only have those three injuries. And right now, obviously, the big thing is for police and for the FBI and the ATF there to figure out what happened.

The other significant thing here is that the police said that they're closing all of downtown. So the downtown area has been shut down as they investigate. Obviously, one of the other concerns is could there be other potential explosive devices in the neighborhood, and that is something that police and the FBI and the ATF there are dealing with, Alison.

KOSIK: Okay. Shimon Prokupecz, Peter Licata, stay with us. We're going to continue to follow this story. Much more on our breaking news after the break.

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[10:15:00]

KOSIK: Okay, we're following breaking news out of Nashville, an explosion that police are calling intentional. The mayor of Nashville says, do not come to Downtown Nashville.

Last hour, we did here from Metro Nashville Police Department Spokesman Don Aaron. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON: Before 6:00 this morning, the police department received a call of a suspicious vehicle on 2nd Avenue North outside of the AT&T building. An officer responded, and after assessing the vehicle, had reason to call our hazardous devices unit. The hazardous devices unit was en route to the downtown area when an explosion linked to that vehicle took place at 6:30. The explosion was significant, as you can see from the street there on 2nd Avenue.

Now, the police department, its federal partners, the FBI, ATF, are conducting a large-scale investigation to this point. We do believe that the explosion was an intentional act. Our federal partners continue to join us here at the scene this morning and this investigation will be taking place --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Back with us is Peter Licata, he is a CNN Law Enforcement Analyst and he previously led the FBI Bomb Squad in New York. And also with us is CNN's Shimon Prokupecz.

Peter, let me start with you. As part of this investigation also to find out maybe if there was any chatter before today, when this explosion happened, this is happening in a business district, were any of the businesses called with any threats over the past week or so or maybe even months? How much is that part of the investigation?

LICATA: It is a huge part of the investigation. There is going to be deep dives into social media, surveillance T.V., how I mentioned before, and social media, just to see if there has been any threats to what the potential target may be based on the known social media sources that the terrorists and criminals normally communicate on. That is ongoing as we speak. That is a deep dive. That's ongoing, as we speak.

KOSIK: What about the time of the explosion? We're hearing from authorities, it happened around 6:30 A.M. It is Christmas, usually lighter traffic on the street for Christmas especially during the pandemic. Is there any significance to it happening so early in the day?

[10:20:00]

LICATA: You always look at location and the time. You have to. You have make that assessment. The fact that it happened this early on Christmas day could take you down a path of maybe whoever the perpetrator was wasn't trying to hurt as many -- minimize the victims that were going to be hurt. Maybe it was an attack to an institution or a facility, trying to minimize the victims, or maybe whoever did this, the bomber in this case, did not function the device properly and it went off a lot earlier for numerous reasons.

KOSIK: Now, I know, Shimon, you've covered explosions similar to this, I know, in New York, and something that comes to mind is the crock pot, the ones that were placed in the city here in New York City and they were -- they were throughout the city. How much do you think authorities are focusing on the possibility of other explosions?

PROKUPECZ: I think that is a big concern right now. And I think that is part of why we're hearing from the officials there. They are saying that the downtown area -- they're closing the downtown area because they don't know what they're dealing with yet. We're just about three hours into this.

And given the way that this R.V. was placed, obviously, there had to be some kind of planning that went into this. So, just the size of this device, whatever materials it is that caused this explosion has to be very concerning to authorities there because you're talking about an R.V. and an R.V. can contain -- you can place a lot of explosive material inside an R.V. and place it somewhere and then cause it to explode.

I think what is also going to be significant is whether or not was there a timed device on this, was this timed to explode or was this kind some kind of remote detonation. Because I do think it is interesting that a short time after police get to the scene this explodes as the bomb squad is en route to go and check out the R.V. because there is something suspicious about it and it explodes.

Now, as Peter said, it could be that whatever this person planned just was maybe the device went off earlier than this person expected or it could be that this was timed to go off as it did. And I think that is going to be significant. The fact that the police were there and the bomb squad was arriving, those points are going to be significant. And the other thing, obviously, as you said, Alison, is could there be other devices in the area, could there be other R.V.s or other place where's perhaps this person placed some explosive material.

I think now the other thing, the big thing they're going to do, Alison, and I think it is important to point out is they're going to work backwards, right? They're going to go and look and see when did the R.V. park there, whoever it is that parked it there, when did it get there, how did it get there and try to build a timeline like that so that they can try and figure out exactly who was behind this.

But I think -- I would have to think that given the size of this explosion and the debris that we're seeing, it is certainly concerning to investigators because this is not just a crock pot of an explosive. This is much bigger, much more sophisticated perhaps and certainly the explosive material here is pretty serious given the size of this explosion.

KOSIK: Quickly, Shimon, walk me through the timeline of how this happened. You said that authorities arrived before it exploded?

PROKUPECZ: So, yes. So the police said that they get a call sometime around 6:00 A.M. or so or sometime before 6:00 A.M. that there is a suspicious vehicle in this area in Downtown Nashville. A police officer arrives. And when the police officer gets there, and inspects the vehicle, sees something suspicious, then calls for the bomb squad, the hazardous materials team, to respond.

As they're en route to the location, this R.V. explodes. So that is the timeline so far that police have given us about what happened here early this morning. We don't know much more about that. We don't know if anyone is in custody. It would appear that they don't have anyone in custody. They did not say either way. But it would appear that whoever placed this R.V. there left. It was abandoned. And so when police got there, something caused them -- caused concern for them and they called the bomb squad to respond. And as the bomb squad is responding, as they're en route to this location, the R.V. explodes.

KOSIK: Okay. We're going to continue following this. Shimon, Peter Licata, we'll come back with you after this break. Let's take a quick break.

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[10:25:00]

KOSIK: We're following breaking news out of Nashville, an explosion that police are calling intentional. The mayor of Nashville says do not come to Downtown Nashville.

I want to bring in CNN's Senior Law Enforcement Analyst and former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. Andrew, thanks for joining us today.

What strikes when you look at this crime scene, the extent of this explosion, something that our Shimon says was felt nine blocks away?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, it is -- thanks for having me, Alison. [10:30:01]

It is -- just from the video that we've seen so far, you clearly are dealing with a substantial device.