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"Damage is shocking": Authorities receive over 500 tips in Nashville explosion investigation

26 December 2020
 Dan Ackermann

Federal prosecutors and Nashville police on Saturday said they are following more than 500 leads and tips in their investigation into an explosion that rocked downtown Nashville, Tennessee, on Christmas morning.

The big picture: The explosion, which injured at least three people, caused widespread telephone, internet and other outages in central Tennessee and in parts of neighboring states. Governor Bill Lee said on Saturday that he has asked President Trump for federal assistance in the state's relief efforts.

  • The White House did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment, but a spokesperson previously said that Trump had been briefed on the incident.

Before Friday's explosion, witnesses reportedly heard a voice from the RV, saying, "Evacuate now. There is a bomb. A bomb is in this vehicle and will explode." 

  • The voice then started a 15-minute countdown and playing music.
  • Officers, responding to an early morning call on Friday for shots fired, encountered the RV as the recording played, police said. The officers began evacuating nearby buildings.
  • The RV exploded around 6:30 a.m. CT, according to authorities.
  • Lee said preliminary reports show at least 41 buildings and businesses were damaged.

What they're saying: "We will get to the bottom of this [and] we will find out the story of this individual or individuals ... of this ultimate Scrooge, who on Christmas morning instead of spreading joy and cheer, decided to spread devastation and destruction," U.S. attorney Donald Cochran said Saturday afternoon.

  • Nashville Metro Police Chief John Drake added that "Nashville is safe. We feel and know that we have no known threats at this time."
  • Gov. Lee tweeted after visiting the site of the explosion said that the "damage is shocking and it is a miracle that no residents were killed."

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.