Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Downtown Nashville Sealed Off after Intentional Explosion; FBI Update on Intentional Nashville Explosion; Eyewitness Describes Hearing Gunshots, Audio Warning from R.V. That Exploded in Nashville. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired December 25, 2020 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN NEWSROOM: Distant image of the blast, police came upon the vehicle after responding to reports of gunfire about an hour or so before, unclear whether there actually was gunfire or whether that was part of the recording coming from the R.V.

Police what they believe to possibly be human remains near the site of the explosion. They have been sent to the medical examiner office for analysis. Again, unclear if that would be something who was from the R.V., or involved in the blast, or just injured by it. More than a dozen buildings have been damaged. And, earlier, there were reports of at least three people have been injured.

We have Evan Perez with the latest on the investigation. I want to go to National Correspondent Natasha Chen Live who is live on the ground in Nashville. Natasha, we may have to breakaway as soon as the press conference begins.

But, really, the biggest update we have just over the last half hour or so from our Josh Campbell and others, it is the reporting that human remains, believed to be human remains, have been found near the site.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And so that's definitely something that will be asked at this press conference in just a few minutes. We're expecting to hear from the mayor who has actually just instituted a curfew around the area of the blast site. That started at 4:30 local time this afternoon, and will go through Sunday afternoon as well. So this is just to try to keep people away from the downtown core where investigators are really working on this.

Where we are now, media are gathered, it's where the press conferences are happening. It's on Second Avenue but it's several blocks away from where the explosion happened this morning. You can see some flashing lights in the distance where they've blocked it off.

You can also see there's pretty much nobody on the streets, and that's what a lot of downtown looks like now. Now, granted, it was already pretty quiet in Nashville this holiday season because of COVID-19 and other restrictions and such, of course after this, a lot of the downtown area was cordoned off. Ramps, freeway ramps coming into the downtown area also sealed off today. So we are expecting, again, as you mentioned, to hear from the mayor. We're going to be able to ask questions to the fire chief and police chief about the latest in the investigation. Of course, FBI, other federal authorities, are working on the scene but we're told will not be present at the press conference coming up. Right now, we are (INAUDIBLE) and these folks --

COOPER: We are having problems now with Natasha's communications. But we are awaiting this press conference, as she was telling us, a press briefing on the Nashville explosion.

For more in the investigation, let's go to our Senior Justice Correspondent, Evan Perez. Evan, what are you hearing?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRSEPONDENT: Well, Anderson, the FBI and the ATF are sending in resources into Nashville to help investigate this -- what's clearly now a vehicle bomb that happened this morning. And as you pointed out earlier with your interview with a witness, you know, the timeline is rather strange. You start hearing these reports of gunshots. We don't know whether they were actual gunshots but we know that people heard what they thought were gunshots and they started reporting this to 911.

And so the focus right now for investigators is to try to figure out whether that was part of the target, were they trying to draw first responders and was that part of the plan here or was it another target? Was it perhaps one of the buildings that were badly damaged? One of the buildings that you can see in some of the pictures is an AT&T exchange building, which is why some of the telecommunications and Natasha's signal is having some trouble, it's because there has been damage to some of the AT&T infrastructure in Downtown Nashville.

At this point, Anderson, we know that the ATF is bringing in their national response team. These are bomb technicians, chemical experts. They're going to go through this crime scene analyzing pieces of debris there to see if they can figure out what was used to set off the explosion.

One of the things that has happened in recent years, Anderson, is that the FBI, federal law enforcement have made it clear to people who sell these types of -- the precursors, the chemicals that are used -- that could be used to make explosives, that they should notify law enforcement when somebody is buying large quantities of it. And so that's one of the things that's happening now.

The FBI, ATF are trying to reach out to the suppliers to see whether anyone has bought large amounts of things that could be used to set off something like this. As you can see, it is a pretty devastating blast.

[18:05:01]

COOPER: Yes. We were talking to a bomb expert a short time ago how was saying the type of explosive will lead the investigation in different directions depending what type it is, commercial grade, military grade, whether it's more of an improvised or homemade type of explosive.

PEREZ: Right. And, obviously, the fact that -- Anderson, the fact that somebody set this thing off, it appears either remotely or perhaps it was a timed device. Those are the things that right now investigators are trying to figure out. Because, obviously, somebody was setting off -- set this thing off at a time in the morning, at 6:00, 6:30 in the morning, on Christmas morning, in an area of downtown that's not exactly the area where the bars are necessarily, it's a couple blocks away. So, perhaps they were trying to avoid casualties.

The fact you were hearing these messages, one of the messages we heard in some of the recordings that we have seen on social media says, if you can hear this message, evacuate now. And that's why, frankly, there wasn't more of casualties but, obviously, we're trying to see, investigators are trying to see whether these possible human remains that have been found are associated with this incident, whether the person who set this off was still in the R.V. or whether some innocent bystander was harmed by this. Again, that's part of the investigation at this point.

COOPER: And as we await the police briefing, which we anticipate happening any moment, it is strange, Evan, whether the -- you talk about the timeline, and we talked to Betsy Williams, who lived in a building that she actually -- when she woke up around -- anywhere between 4:45 A.M., hearing what she thought were shots, looked out, she saw the R.V., she heard the message, she eventually evacuated.

But she said that the countdown that occurred that said 15 minutes until the bomb blast goes off, and it was counting down each minute, then they had evacuated, but it didn't explode after the 15 minutes were up. She estimated it probably went on another 15 or so minutes and then exploded. Hard to understand whether that's just -- was that intentional, was that accidental, it is not known.

PEREZ: Right, exactly. That's part of the mystery here is, again, if you were trying to draw law enforcement in, some of the first responders, and if this was a bomb that was aimed at them, then why is there this warning that really did clear the area out? Police were able to draw people away. They saw -- there was a witness who reported that there was someone was walking a dog right down the street in that area and the police were able to push that person away and tell them to get away from the scene. So there was plenty of warning here for people to get away from it.

But then, as you pointed out, the countdown is happening and then it doesn't go off. And so people were starting to come back in to perhaps get a closer look. And we heard from police earlier that at least one officer had some hearing damage but pretty much the miraculous thing today is that nobody was -- or at least from what we could tell, there are no confirmed fatalities at this point, because that clearly could have been worse.

COOPER: Yes. Again, reports of human remains but we don't know the details of that. We expect to hear more in this police briefing in a moment. I want to bring in Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Andrew McCabe, former deputy director at the FBI.

What kind of forensics will ATF and FBI be looking at here, and also this report now of human remains? I wonder what you make of that.

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, all great questions. So, human remains issue first, that obviously kind of elevates the specter that there may, in fact, have been someone in this vehicle when the device went off, and that's the question everybody wants to answer.

With an explosive device of this size that was necessary to make the kind of damage we're seeing on T.V., it's -- I don't want to get too graphic here, it is unlikely you would find some trace evidence of human remains but you're not going to find a lot of big things.

COOPER: And, Andrew, I was going to interrupt. Here is the mayor.

MAYOR JOHN COOPER (D-NASHVILLE, TN): The chief and I just had a walking tour of the devastation on Second Avenue. And as of, you know, right now, it does, initial evidence does show that the early morning explosion was a deliberate bomb being set off in our community. And the blast caused injuries and catastrophic damage to this very historic part of Nashville.

Now, at the end of the day, I think all of us, I certainly have, have gone from relief that there were not more casualties.

[18:10:02]

And that's an amazing thing that there were not, particularly when people begin to see that the devastation on Second Avenue, to relief there that were not more casualties, to now anger and determination and resolve, and a resolve to rebuild and not to be deterred and to bring whoever was responsible for this to justice.

Now, I have spoken with Governor Lee, who is working with us to have a declaration of a civil emergency, both with the state and then for TEMA to work with FEMA, to bring all possible resources to rebuild Second Avenue, to go forward, not being deterred by this. And I am grateful to our state and our federal partners to help this important part of Nashville rebuild and come back.

There are 41 at least separate businesses that are materially damaged by this blast. There will be others as we see the full extent of this. But, already, you can tell that it is going to need special help, special resources, and I am grateful to the state partnering with us to commit to rebuilding Second.

Now, I want to stand with our downtown residents and our business owners for whom there was a terrible day, but we are, like Nashville has faced other challenges, particularly this year, we can rebuild and get back to normal.

Now, as announced earlier, Metro is also establishing a curfew in the explosion impact area from 4:30 today until 4:30 P.M. this Sunday. Now, affected businesses, I would urge them to contact Crystal Lab at the central precinct at 862-8600 to be able manage coming back to your facilities safely. But in the meantime, the curfew area is going to provide safety and security for businesses in this area.

And I will go ahead and warn Nashville, it will be sometime before Second Avenue is back to normal. It is not going to be the three days of the curfew for Second Avenue. The curfew is going to from 4th to the river from James Robertson down to Broadway. The police are going to take special care with that for the next few days, and our partners at the FBI do have a large crime scene to investigate. And they need to be able to do that work effectively and well.

Now, this morning's attack on our community was intended to create chaos and fear in this season of peace and hope. But Nashvillians have proven time and time again that the spirit of our city cannot be broken. But we're not going to rest until those responsible for this outrageous and cowardly attack are brought to justice and the full force of the Metro Police and our partners at the FBI and the ATF are working together to make sure that we will get back to being the safe city that we are.

Now, three people have been hospitalized as a result of the explosion and are in stable condition. And my prayers are with them and their loved ones tonight. I was able to visit with a four-year-old girl this morning who was -- had no injury and was saved.

But let's just spend a moment in celebration of the six uniformed metro police officers from our central precinct who were at the scene at the time of the blast. These incredible heroes who ran to danger with uncertain outcomes ahead of them were responsible for so many injuries being saved.

I have spoken with Chief Drake, and I can report that the officers who were injured by this are recovering well. I would like Chief Drake to come and spend a little bit evaluating Officers Jose, Lowelan, Wells, Cipose, Topping and Sergeant Miller (ph), who took swift action and directed people away from danger to save lives, even at the time that their own lives would have been in peril. They are heroes.

And I am grateful to them and all of Nashville's first responders. This is a year where we understand what first responders mean to our community, time and time again, and, unfortunately, on Christmas day, you have another example of that.

Now, several downtown residents whose homes were destroyed by the blast, and I am inspired by their resilience. And we have to draw inspiration from them as our city to be resilient once again and to get the resources to rebuild. And I am grateful to the Red Cross, who has opened an aid shelter at the East Park Community Center for those who have been displaced.

[18:15:01]

Now, with that, let me turn this over to the chief and answer questions. I think the message of the day is we are going from relief now to resolve to catch those folks and to rebuild our city, and one more challenge in Nashville's 2020, but we will get through it, and we're grateful to our first responders. And never -- you see once again these officers running into danger to help save lives and injury. it is inspiring. And again, the gratitude of our community goes to the chief's force.

And with that, I would like to turn it to Chief Drake to come in more specifically about the heroism, the great heroism of our department. Thank you.

JOHN DRAKE, DEPUTY CHIEF, METROPOLITAN NASHVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Thank you, Mayor Cooper. As Mayor Cooper stated, these officers' acts of heroism is just tremendous.

This morning they received calls for shots fired. They had no idea what they were responding to. Once they arrived in the area, they heard an R.V. giving out a message, basically saying that it was going to detonate within a certain timeframe, and countdown would go on. And then it would play music, and then countdown would start again.

Officers immediately began knocking on doors and evacuating residents here, not knowing if the bomb was going to detonate immediately or if it's going to off in the time that it was stated.

These officers didn't care about themselves, they didn't think about that. They cared about the citizens of Nashville, and they went in. And we've been talking not about the debris that we have here but also maybe potential people.

So with that said, the officers saved lives today and their heroism should be noted.

REPORTER: Sir, do you believe that either the Lyft headquarters or AT&T data center might have been targets of this explosion?

DRAKE: We don't know. The investigation is continuing. We don't know the motive at this time. But we are following up on all available leads.

REPORTER: Is there any time, Chief, why this happened Christmas morning, anything that leads you to believe that this day was chosen in particular to happen?

DRAKE: Don't have anything at this time. We are following up on every lead that we can. Why Christmas morning, we have no idea. It's a total surprise. In fact, when I was briefed this morning, I thought maybe it would be a propane explosion from an R.V. and it turned out to be an intentional act.

But we're going to follow up on every lead. We are following up on tips that come in now. And so we'll continue with our investigative efforts.

REPORTER: Have you found human remains in the debris?

DRAKE: We found tissue that we believe could be remains and we'll just have that examined and then we'll be able to let you know from that point.

I'm sorry, I can't hear you.

REPORTER: Can you speak to where that was found and if it's the belief that (INAUDIBLE) inside the R.V.?

DRAKE: Well, the R.V. was detonated, so if there was someone inside, we have no idea. It was a large explosion. But the investigation is continuing. There's matter all over the area down there, and so we'll continue to examine that to see if it is human remains.

REPORTER: Right now, are you saying that there are no known fatalities that we know of?

DRAKE: Right now, there's no known fatalities that we know of.

REPORTER: Just the tissues is what you believe, that you found human tissue in the remains is what you believe?

DRAKE: We believe, could be. But to be certain, we have to examine it. And once we know for sure, that's -- and we'll let everyone know. But we're investigating it.

REPORTER: Have you received any information of threats leading up to the city in the coming days, anything to lead you to believe that this was something that was coming?

DRAKE: We have not received any threats, whatsoever. It's a total surprise. As I said, when we got the call this morning -- when I got the call this morning, I thought it was going to be a camper, someone was trying to keep warm, the gas leaked and there was an explosion. As I got more updates, that's when I found out it was intentional. But we had no pre-warnings at all.

REPORTER: What do you make of the timing of this being that there are no people out on the street at 6:00 in the morning and that it happened with the announcement playing in advance?

DRAKE: Yes. I don't want to speculate, but you would think that this person didn't want to harm people, that maybe they just wanted to destroy, but we're not sure until we get further into the investigation.

REPORTER: Chief, you talked about the 911 impact by this. Obviously, several cities have had 911 system knocked out because of this. do you think that was the relation, the intention to knock out 911 service?

DRAKE: We're not sure right now. We are following up on that. We are aware we did have some services go down, we did have AT&T go down for just a little while, but that's back up now. So, to say anything more would be speculation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm actually going to ask that to be the last question for the chief for just now.

[18:20:02] We're going to ask Chief Swann from Metro Fire to come and give an update.

DRAKE: Okay. Thanks.

CHIF WILLIAM SWANN, NASHVILLE FIRE DIRECTOR: Good evening. I know there's a lot of question, unanswered questions that we can't answer right now. But some of the things we do want to talk about, we talk about public safety and fire and police and office of emergency management. The things we do operate off of the lip method, live safety incidents, stabilization and property conservation.

And so, currently, right now, we know we have done a sweep of all of the buildings to try to make sure that we cleared, that there's no personnel that are in the buildings, when we have done all of the hazmat sweeps and all the things that you would imagine, if there's a dirty bomb or something of this nature.

Now, we have our urban search and rescue teams in, that way that we can shore up buildings. We have got the structural engineers there to make sure that, again, that the buildings are sound enough to actually be able to enter in and out of them.

So, again, it is a lot of moving parts and I know there's a lot of questions that, again, that we're trying to answer, but at this point, there's so many moving parts.

So, again, we just want to take our hats off to all of the first responders and all the job that has been (INAUDIBLE) especially with the infrastructure in the situation it is, all of the partners that we have in local, federal working together to make sure that, as the mayor said, we are a resilient city, we will keep moving. Thank you.

REPORTER: Do you have any idea how many people were evacuated?

SWANN: Actually, that's a great question and we are working on that, because the way units are designed, and we are trying to get an accurate headcount (INAUDIBLE) tell everyone. The Red Cross is partnering with us and we have MTA or Regal Buses set up throughout the city, so if there's anybody that's displaced, we'll take them to the East Park Community Center. And from there, we'll make sure that they have a place to stay for tonight or for as long as needed.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) in the hundreds? Would say hundreds, like --

SWANN: I will say, many people that maybe been placed. I'm sorry. I won't put a number to it. But we know that there are people that are displaced.

REPORTER: Chief, can you speak to the structural integrity of buildings downtown given the explosion? Is that part of the reason why there's a curfew for the next few days in case anything --

SWANN: Absolutely. So, the Office of Emergency Management, we tried to look at the overall view of the city and making sure that everything is safe and working together. We know we had one building collapsed due to the explosion and due to age of the other buildings. And then we had water was then displayed throughout the buildings, and with the cold weather. We think the water department, as well, is making sure that they have got the water shut off.

But, still, the integrity of those buildings are in question. So we are trying to make sure that we do have everybody in place and safety for all personnel.

REPORTER: Chief, what building was that collapsed?

SWANN: I don't have the address. I'm sorry.

REPORTER: Do you know the business was inside, residential or anything?

SWANN: Yes, it was a building that actually housed across from the explosion, which above the -- it was residential above. So I can't really give you, I'm sorry. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Guys, that's going to be our last question for this evening. I want to thank you guys for coming out. We will be in touch with you with regular updates.

COOPER: I want to bring in Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Andrew McCabe, former Deputy Director of the FBI. We just heard the police chief confirm they believe human tissue was found near the blast site, they wouldn't say exactly. They said tissue that could be remains, though at this point they're saying no known fatalities. And, Andrew, we didn't hear from the FBI at this briefing.

Did anything stand out to you from what you heard from the mayor or from the police chief?

MCCABE: Well, just what you mentioned about the recovery of some presumed human tissue. Of course, we don't know where that was picked up. It's hard to say whether they can connect that to the R.V. or not, but that's certainly a possibility.

And the other thing I heard that was interesting was the chief was talking about what his officers heard when they got on the scene. They heard that the announcement coming from the R.V., and then they described it as a countdown, and then music played, and then the countdown started again. And so that's a bizarre sequence of announcements coming from the device minutes, really, I guess, before it detonates.

The FBI and all other partners will be looking at each little detail like that to try to attach some significance to the words that were used, the frequency that they may have been repeated, if there was music playing, what was that music and how can we identify that.

[18:25:09]

So, they will take a forensic microscope, figuratively speaking, to every single fact and detail that can identify about this incident. And it will go on for months. COOPER: Yes. And the recording, which was -- to be kind of a female voice, I talked to Betsy Williams, a resident who was actually -- who did evacuate, and she said -- and described it as a computer-generated female voice. Unclear whether there's any way to trace something like that, sort of what programs are used and may be a specific kind of computer-generated voice.

But she also said that there were as the shots fired, which could have been on the tape or could have been actual shots fired, although it seems more likely perhaps that they were on this tape.

And then there was the announcement from the recorded voice for Betsy Williams, was saying, evacuate now, there's a bomb, a bomb in this vehicle and will explode and then countdown started saying 15 minutes. And then she had driven away at that point and was parked away waiting for a blast that didn't occur. And she estimated it might have been as much as 15 minutes, until the -- after the 15minute countdown had ended, then the blast did occur.

So I don't know if that was intentional or if that was a malfunction or why there would be that discrepancy, but it is interesting whether that was intentional or not.

MCCABE: Yes, really hard to say at this point, right? If there was someone inside the vehicle who detonated this thing manually, that opens up a whole flood of possibilities. Maybe they were having trouble with the equipment, maybe it took longer to get things started than they initially planned. If it was set on a timer and kind of an automatic device, there're all sorts of opportunities for mistake and error in that as well.

And the thing that I keep coming back to, Anderson, is this -- particularly this block between church and commerce that's, of course, Second Avenue North, it's covered with video surveillance. There are so many cameras, even just that you can see looking at photos on the internet. So they know when the van arrived, they know when it parked on the side of the road. They should have a pretty good idea of the foot traffic in and around the R.V., if there was any, or even if anyone is seen getting in or out of the vehicle.

So my guess is that the investigators obviously know a lot more than we do right now. And the fact that we're not hearing about that doesn't mean they don't know it, it just may mean they're running down leads that are better covered covertly and without a lot of attention.

COOPER: They would also need, any kind of situation like this, given that there was -- AT&T had a building on the street, according to one of the reporters on the scene, they asked about Lyft, I assume they had some an office on that street as well, and then there were smaller businesses. Part of the investigation would, I assume, be contacting all of those businesses and finding out if they had any specific threats against them, any kind of crank letters, any security threats over the last several months or so.

MCCABE: Absolutely, and particularly AT&T. And I say that only because it appears that the R.V. was parked right in front of that very large kind of red brick building, which we know belongs to AT&T.

So the FBI folks are very familiar with their security counterparts at AT&T, another large telecommunications company. So that's a well established connection. I am confident that they had many conversations today. Some of those are probably among the lines of, can you identify for us every employee that works at that facility and any employees that you may have had problems with security issues, with other people who maybe aren't employed but came to your attention as security issues in and around that facility. So there are many, many leads that are being tracked downright right at this moment along each one of those lines of investigation.

COOPER: Yes. And just for -- I should point out, AT&T is a parent company of CNN.

Back with the eyewitness of the explosion in Nashville, next. Andrew McCabe, thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

COOPER: Well, imagine hanging out with your dog on Christmas Day when chaos breaks out after a huge explosion emerges in the distance. I want to get to an eyewitness from the scene, David Molloy joins me now. Mr. Malloy, thanks so much for being with us. I'm sorry, sir, for these under these circumstances.

So you were walking your dog, I understand when you saw police activity and then you heard this recording coming from the R.V. When did you -- what did you see and hear?

DAVID MOLLOY, EYEWITNESS: Okay. Well, I stepped outside and our building is next door to the 21-C Hotel and the night manager was running around outside saying he had to evacuate the building, I was told to evacuate. And I was just this kind of frazzled. Every corner had police cars at it, stopping any kind of traffic. And I turned around --

COOPER: Do you know what time this went off?

MOLLOY: This would have been just a couple minutes before the explosion. I think the explosion was -- my security cameras, I think, showed it at 6:29, it might have been right there. So this is just a couple minutes before that.

So I turned around and an officer is walking towards me. And I said why do we have to evacuate? What's going on? And right then the bomb went off. His back was to the explosion, and I was looking at him and it was behind him. And we're about a half a block away from where the explosion was.

COOPER: You know, I am seeing video, I believe that's you with your dog, is that right?

MOLLOY: Yes. That's a black German shepherd. And so we walk over one street over to a little grassy area. That's where I was headed and then when he stopped me.

So, after the explosion, I mean, all I saw was this huge fireball from my side of the street, which is the same side that the AT&T building is, move across the street and then up in the sky. I didn't feel any concussion from the explosion. And it was really loud but it like hurt my ears. And didn't -- the dog didn't yelp, it wasn't anything like that.

[18:35:02]

So I didn't know.

I wasn't aware of what kind of damage that this had actually caused. Immediately, he helped escort me back into my building and started to yelling for my wife. She was still in bed asleep. And come find out it blew out -- our building is an old two storey building, where in the historical areas, 1875, and then it blew out the back windows on our two floors. And blew debris and stuff over across the bed where my wife was sleeping.

COOPER: Yes. I'm seeing the video now inside. Did you hear the voice coming from the R.V., the recorded message?

MOLLOY: I did. I did hear the recording. It wasn't really loud. And, honestly, I thought the recording was coming from the police car. It was very official. I didn't notice any accent about it or anything. It was just like a professional voice kind of thing. It's like -- you know.

COOPER: One witness I talked to said it sounded like an automated female voice.

MOLLOY: Not to me, it sounded male.

COOPER: Okay, but it sounded like something automated?

MOLLOY: It sounded professional, yes, yes. It sounded professional. It really -- yes, it did. That's wise.

COOPER: Had there ever been any incident in this area, I mean, outside that AT&T building? Had there ever been protests or anything like that?

MOLLOY: No, that building, they stay real quiet with that building. There're no windows or anything like that. And they really try to never draw the attention to it.

You know, we're two blocks up from lower Broadway where all the hot (INAUDIBLE) are. And we've always wanted to kind of just clean up our little area and kind of make it more presentable to tourists itself but that building was basically untouchable. They didn't want any kind of art work or any kind of anything to draw any attention to it or whatever.

COOPER: And how were you able to be -- are you in your home now? MOLLOY: Yes. Yes. We are taped off across both sides of the street. And, basically, we are kind of in a secluded -- we're supposed to stay inside. We're now actually under a curfew until, I think, they said Sunday at 4:30 in the afternoon. So, a little early, I stepped outside a couple hours ago to ask the FBI permission to be able to walk the dog, you know? So it's kind of where we're at.

COOPER: Yes.

MOLLOY: They really don't want us to leave the building, or take vehicles or do anything, you know?

COOPER: Well, David Molloy, I'm glad you and your wife are doing okay. And I appreciate you taking the time to talk to us.

MOLLOY: Thank you.

COOPER: Thank you.

MOLLOY: Thank you, thank you very much.

COOPER: Much more to come as breaking news coverage continues. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

COOPER: We'll talk about the latest in the investigation. Joining me now is CNN Law Enforcement Analyst Charles Ramsey and Law Enforcement Analyst Peter Licata from our lead bomb tech for the FBI in New York City.

Peter, let's start with you. Just in terms of -- you know, we heard from the police chief in Nashville as well as the mayor, not a lot of new details. The police chief saying they did find tissue that could be human remains near the blast site, no known fatalities. Just in terms of -- you know, when you and I last spoke, you talked about the different types of explosives, commercial, military or improvised and homemade, and depending on what they find, that would lead the investigation in different possible directions.

PETER LICATA, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, that's correct. So, you know, obviously, if it is commercial or military-type explosives, they're going to start canvassing places that manufacture and store commercial explosives. That would be used in commercial blasting. If it's determined that it's improvised or homemade, which generally is the most likely scenario, you're going to find the majority of the bombings that happened in the United States going back to the '90s have been improvised or homemade explosives because commercial and military explosive are very well regulated here in the U.S.

So that being said is, then we go down a different path, and it's a wide path to go down. That's where they're going to be canvassing retailers that sell those precursor chemicals. They're going to be canvassing subpoenas for things like eBay, for Craigslist, places traditionally where Ahamd Rahimi or Chelsea 2016 New York City and Jersey Shore bomber purchased explosives or precursors off the internet. It's going to take them down a very deliberate and very deep investigative path in order to determine that.

COOPER: And, Chief Ramsey, you -- this recording, it really stands out to you. You and I talked a couple hours ago. And to have a recording -- you know to have somebody call in and say there's a bomb in place at such and such, which has occurred in the past, have you heard of other incidences where there's been a bomb that had a recording that went along with it?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: No, I haven't. Of course, I'm not a bomb expert but I did listen to one earlier on CNN mention that that's the first time they were aware of an actual recording in the vehicle that contained the explosive. So that is unusual.

You know, as I was listening to Chief Drake, and I agree, I mean, those officers did an incredible job. The one thing I was hoping he would mention would be whether or not those officers were wearing body cameras or not. If they were wearing body cameras, then they would have picked up the actual recording on those devices.

I know Nashville is just getting body cameras, beginning to roll them out. I don't think all of their officers have been outfitted yet. But that would be interesting and certainly would be critical evidence if they were, in fact, wearing body cameras.

COOPER: Yes. And there's a tape on social media, we're not playing it because we haven't independently confirmed the authenticity, I don't want to put anything out there that we don't know is real.

But, Peter, the idea of recording with the device, is that something you could experienced before?

LICATA: Not me personally, but it has happened as of recent. And then you have to go back to the 2012 Aurora Theater shooting that took place by James Holmes, a perpetrator that one of the things he did in his apartment that he was targeting first responders, because he knew very well that first responders would determine that he was, in fact, the perpetrator.

He left a recording inside his apartment building in his apartment that had a loop tape on that was set to go off at a specific time hat actually had gunshot firing.

[18:45:05]

So, therefore, as first responders were coming up to his door thinking there would be gunshots going in and they would actually go ahead and have to kick the door in which would set off a series of victim- actuated devices targeting those first responders. So, it has happened before.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: That's interesting because that's one of the things about the alleged gunshots that were heard by eyewitnesses who called 911 which is what brought police to the scene. It's not clear there actually were shots. It very well could have been part of the recording.

LICATA: It could have been part of that recording, it could have been small pyrotechnic devices that were being thrown a lot of times, depending on the street and echoing, and the canyon type style, firecrackers, pyrotechnics can sometimes especially at 6:00 in the morning when you're not awake, or you're half awake can sound like gunshots as well.

COOPER: Peter, is there any sense? I mean, clearly, someone drove the vehicle, the surveillance camera footage picture that was released was taken at 1:22:00 a.m. So, clearly, someone drove it to the location where it eventually exploded about five hours -- five hours later.

Is there any way to tell whether something is detonated remotely or detonated on scene, or is that just await the investigation and what kind of -- I mean, you can only know that by looking at what debris is left from the device?

LICATA: Well, that's going to be clear in two factors. That's going to be the internal investigation that we talked about. So, it's going to be the parts of it, the componentry of the ID or the bomb that crime scene team members find will determine whether or not it was initiated command or remotely or initiated via time.

Those items, those components don't just vaporize, they're there. They will be found. It may take a few days but they will be found.

It will also go to the fact that even if they're not necessarily found quickly enough in the crime scene, if law enforcement determines the subject, viable subject through deep dives into social media, through cell phone coverage, through normal investigations, as search warrants are generated, parts of that device are generally going to be found wherever the device was built, house, apartment, shed, anywhere. Those things are going to be found and compared to what they find in the crime scene versus what they find where the device was actually constructed.

COOPER: Yeah. Chief Ramsey, Peter Licata, appreciate both of your expertise. Thank you so much.

Our breaking news coverage continues coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:51:20]

COOPER: Welcome back.

The president is at this resort in Florida. We know he's been briefed on the explosion in Nashville as has the President-elect Biden.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us now, not far from Mar-a-Lago.

So, has the president said anything on this incident? JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So, Anderson, we

haven't heard from the president directly on this explosion that took place in Nashville. But we did get a statement from the White House confirming that the president was indeed briefed on this incident. This is a brief statement from the deputy White House press secretary, Judd Deere.

He says, quote, President Trump has been briefed on the explosion in Nashville, Tennessee, and will continue to receive regular updates. The president is grateful for the incredible first responders and praying for those who were injured.

Now, we were hoping to see the president on camera this evening. He was scheduled to have a phone call teleconference with the troops as he typically does on Christmas Day. Usually, he allows the news media to come in, cameras to record this, but today, the president is taking to Twitter to say that he would not allow the news media into this, and the White House promptly gave us a lid, meaning that we are not expecting to see or hear from the president on camera today.

COOPER: And what more do we know on the president signing or not signing the coronavirus relief bill?

DIAMOND: Well, we know that that piece of legislation was flown down from Washington yesterday and it is now at Mar-a-Lago. But the question still remains as to whether the president will actually move forward and sign that legislation. What is remarkable, Anderson, is that the president since making that threat no veto this legislation, he hasn't been on the phone with members of congressional leadership, and he hasn't been meeting with advisers to try to find a way to get the stimulus checks to Americans.

Instead, the president has been golfing and tweeting angrily at Senate Republicans as well as continuing to complain about this $600 checks versus the $2,000 amount he would have liked to seen. But as far as doing anything to get that done, completely missing in action -- Anderson.

COOPER: Is it clear how long -- how long he was golfing for today?

DIAMOND: Well, we know he was at his golf club for about five hours this morning. We know that he was golfing. Can't confirm the exact amount of time on the greens but certainly, he spent a large chunk of his day there as he did yesterday as well.

COOPER: All right. Jeremy Diamond, appreciate it.

I want to bring in Josh Campbell now to talk about the investigation ongoing in Nashville.

Josh, we heard from the chief of police there saying they did find tissue that could be human remains, but as of yet, there are no known fatalities from this blast.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. That's right. We don't know based on our own reporting we were hearing from sources the same. They found possible human remains that were taken to the medical examiner's office for analysis. We don't know how close to the vehicle that these tissue parts were found, whether they were inside. Again, this thing was obliterated as the explosion went off.

And so, that is what officials are trying to determine as they do this testing. Again, we don't know if this was the perpetrator or possibly an innocent victim in the location. It's harder to think it would be an innocent victim just because of the heroic work of police officers down there and trying to get everybody away from that scene as a recap for folks, police showed up to a call of sounds of gunfire. They heard a recorded announcement coming out of this RV saying a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes and they moved quickly to try to move people out of that area to warn them.

The police chief there saying officers saved lives today. Now, we also know that this investigation continues despite the fact that they have this possible tissue they're trying to identify the person. They're trying to identify all the possible cc TV footage they could find and other digital evidence that could help them.

One other thing that we heard from the police chief a second ago which is confirming our earlier reporting is that there were no known threats ahead of the incident. We heard from our sources there was nothing that authorities had heard about a possible attack or any types of threats on or before Christmas. We're also told from law enforcement sources there was no chatter by known extremists indicating any type of impending attack.

So, this caught authorities completely by surprise there. They are saying, the police chief is saying. And so, it's just a typical investigative work they're having to do forensic examination, and scouring the area to try to piece together who the perpetrator was.

COOPER: Yeah. Well, we'll continue to follow. Josh Campbell, I appreciate your reporting throughout the hours. Really appreciate it.

CNN is going to continue to cover the breaking news from Nashville, obviously, as updates come in. We're going to bring them to you throughout the night.

Stay tuned for CNN special report, "Pandemic: How A Virus Changed the World in 1918", right after this break.