Three people were injured and hospitalized, early Friday, in a massive explosion that rocked downtown Nashville in the US southern state of Tennessee in what is believed to be an intentional act, according to authorities.
Police officers were responding to reports of fired shots near 2nd Ave and Commerce Street before 6 a.m. local time when they saw a suspicious vehicle outside a nearby building.
As the officers alerted the bomb squad, around 30 minutes later a significant explosion happened, Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) spokesperson Don Aaron said.
Local reports, quoting the MNPD, said that a parked recreational vehicle (RV) had exploded and caused damage to several buildings.
Before the explosion, the parked RV was playing a recorded message, “If you can hear this message evacuate now,” the police said.
“Officers, upon hearing that, decided to evacuate the buildings nearby. So they began knocking on doors, making announcements, having emergency communications with everyone to get people safe,” Nashville Police Chief John Drake told the press.
“Shortly after that, the RV exploded. We had one officer that was knocked to the ground. Another officer is fine,” Drake added.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper confirmed on Twitter that the source of the explosion came from a vehicle, adding the force of the explosion damaged at least 20 buildings.
The FBI is taking the lead in the investigation, and it will be working in conjunction with state and local authorities, its spokesman Joel Siskovic said.
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