T AT&T Inc

By Ian Lovett and Cameron McWhirter 

The person who set off a bomb in a recreational vehicle in downtown Nashville Christmas morning was likely motivated by a desire to damage a nearby AT&T switching station, the mayor of Tennessee's biggest city said Sunday.

Speaking on CBS's "Face the Nation," Nashville Mayor John Cooper said, "To all of us locally, it feels like there has to be some connection with the AT&T facility and the site of the bombing."

Intelligence officials have considered whether the AT&T building was targeted in the bombing, according to a person briefed on the investigation.

Federal and local investigators have identified a 63-year-old local man, Anthony Quinn Warner, as a person of interest in the case, law-enforcement officials said Saturday. There was previously an RV in the yard of a home he owned, according to a photo on Google Maps taken in 2019.

Authorities are analyzing body tissue found near the scene of the bombing to determine whether it belongs to someone who died setting off the blast.

Friday's explosion next to the AT&T switching station knocked out cellular service in much of Tennessee, Kentucky and Northern Alabama. The telecom company said Sunday morning that 65% of mobility sites affected by the explosion had been restored and portable cell sites were being used to help provide coverage in other areas. Workers pumped more than 3 feet of water out of the damaged building's basement and 24 trailers with disaster recovery equipment are en route as the company works to restore internet and landline phone service.

The bombing, which came after a sound system in the RV made announcements about a bomb inside, injured at least three people and damaged at least 41 buildings, one of which was destroyed, according to authorities. The explosion has further hobbled businesses in the area that already were reeling from the pandemic.

Ty Hauter, who co-owns the George Jones Museum and a bar and music venue on Second Avenue about 50 yards from the explosion, said he had reopened the bar, which was closed since the start of the pandemic, just a few weeks ago at 25% capacity.

Since the explosion, he had been blocked by police from assessing the damage. He said he knew the businesses' windows and doors were blown out, and was pleading with police on Saturday to let him visit his businesses in person. "We don't know what our buildings look like," he said.

Mr. Cooper, the mayor, previously imposed a curfew on the area around the explosion until Sunday at 4:30 p.m.

The center of Nashville's tourist zone is a few blocks away from the explosion, along Lower Broadway, which is lined with honky tonks and other music venues, cowboy boot stores, restaurants and a museum dedicated to the country music legend Johnny Cash.

More than 16 million people visited the city last year, 6% more than in 2018, according to the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. Visitors in 2019 directly spent about $7.5 billion in Nashville, according to the business association.

This year, spending on tourism in Nashville is down about $4 billion, said Butch Spyridon, chief executive of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.

The organization was planning to air a television commercial at the end of the month to lure tourists to the city, but now staff are debating whether to pull the ad, according to Mr. Spyridon. They have suspended all other advertising. Prospects for the city's tourist business had been hopeful with vaccines being distributed, but "this puts a wrench in the plans," he said.

Several times this year, Mr. Spyridon had thought Nashville tourism was about to start recovering.

"But every time another blow is landed," he said. "We will work our way out of this, but it just got harder and it just got longer."

William Fox, an economist and director of the University of Tennessee's Boyd Center for Business & Economic Research, said Saturday that Tennessee's overall economy has weathered the pandemic well but Nashville has struggled because of its dependence on tourism.

Asked about the explosion's impact on the city's economy, Mr. Fox said, "It won't really have a big impact. People will realize pretty quickly that it's an isolated event."

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 27, 2020 13:20 ET (18:20 GMT)

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