Nashville police found no evidence to probe suspected bomber: police chief

#Despite reported suspicions last year that the suspect in the #Nashville #Christmas #Day bombing was making explosives, officials on #Wednesday said they found no evidence at the time to warrant a search of his home or recreational vehicle.

#Nashville police were called to a home on #Aug. 21, 2019, over reports of a woman threatening to kill herself, police #Chief #John #Drake told reporters. #When they arrived, they found two unloaded firearms.

The woman said her boyfriend, #Anthony #Quinn #Warner, “was building bombs in the RV trailer at his residence,” according to a report.

#An attorney, #Raymond #Throckmorton III, who represented the woman, had called the police out of concern for his client.

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#Throckmorton said #Warner was capable of making a bomb, but he didn’t believe #Warner was building one or that he was violent. #He also said #Warner “did not care for the police,” #Drake said.

#After visiting the girlfriend, officers went to #Warner’s home and knocked on the door. #No one answered.

The officers also did not have permission to go inside a parked recreational vehicle behind the residence.

“#At no time was there evidence of reasonable suspicion that a crime was being committed and officers had no legal basis to go into #Warner’s fenced in yard and home,” #Drake said. “#We had no legal basis for search warrants or subpoenas based on what we knew at the time.”

#No other reports about #Warner were made to police. #Background checks — aside from a 1978 marijuana possession charge — came back clean and no further action was taken, #Drake said.

The responding officers went by #Warner’s home for at least a week afterwards, but did not make contact with him, #Drake said. The police sent a report to the department’s hazardous devices unit and to the FBI.

The FBI said it found no suspicious activity on #Warner’s part. #Drake said “hindsight is 20/20” and he wished officers had more to go on at the time.

#Warner’s RV shook the city’s downtown area last week when it exploded in the early morning hours #Friday. The vehicle was parked near an AT&T building and began blaring a warning that an explosion was imminent before the blast.

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#Statements from the girlfriend and #Throckmorton about potential bomb-making did not give the officers probable cause to enter #Warner’s home or RV, #Drake said.

“#You have a girlfriend that said that and really you could say that about me,” he said. “They could say that I have the ability … to do so but it doesn’t give people the right to go inside [the home].”

#Investigators still are working to determine a motive for the attack.