REVEALED: Nashville Christmas bomber was fascinated by conspiracy theories, hunted for alien life forms in a state park and believed shape-shifting 'lizard people' are trying to take over the world
The Nashville Christmas Day bomber was fascinated by conspiracy theories, hunted for alien life forms in a state park and believed shape-shifting 'lizard people' are trying to take over the world, law enforcement sources have revealed.
Investigators have uncovered rambling notes about various conspiracy theories thought to have been written by Anthony Quinn Warner, the sources said, as authorities are still trying to piece together the motive for Friday's blast.
Warner, 63, was named by officials as the sole perpetrator of the explosion that killed him, injured three others and reduced parts of downtown Nashville to rubble.
Police were called out to a report of shots fired at the scene when they encountered an RV blaring a recorded warning that a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes.
People were evacuated from the area before the RV exploded around 6.30 a.m. local time. Authorities later discovered human remains belonging to Warner in the rubble.
Questions remain unanswered about the freelance IT consultant's motive for the suspected suicide mission.
The Nashville Christmas Day bomber was fascinated by conspiracy theories, hunted for alien life forms in a state park and believed shape-shifting 'lizard people' are trying to take over the world, law enforcement sources have revealed. On Monday the FBI in Memphis released this new photo of Warner showing him leaning out of what appears to be his white RV
New details are emerging about his obsession with conspiracy theories and his potential state of mind leading up to the blast, as it emerged that authorities were told he was fitting his RV with a bomb back in 2019.
Law enforcement sources told ABC News the newly-uncovered writings by Warner included conspiracy theories about the so-called 'lizard people' - the idea that shape-shifting reptilian aliens take on human form and secretly control the world.
The conspiracy theory was pushed by David Icke who claims that many world leaders are lizard people or are being possessed by lizard people.
Warner is also believed to have spent time hunting for alien life forms in a nearby state park, the sources said.
This is just the latest wild conspiracy theory being considered as a potential motive for the blast.
Since Warner was named the culprit, associates of the suspected suicide bomber have come forward to describe how he was paranoid that 5G technology was killing people and harbored a deep hatred for law enforcement.
A source told DailyMail.com previously that the freelance IT consultant was 'heavily into conspiracy theories' and believed 5G technology was killing people.
The bombing badly damaged a critical AT&T transmission center, wreaking havoc on phone communications in multiple states, raising questions about whether the building was intentionally targeted.
Agents are also said to be investigating whether Quinn's paranoia over telecomms began with the death of his father Charles B. Warner in July 2011, aged 78.
Investigators have uncovered rambling notes about various conspiracy theories thought to have been written by Anthony Quinn Warner, the sources said. FBI on the scene Monday
Harrowing images taken on Monday show the aftermath of the Christmas Day explosion. Authorities are still trying to piece together the motive for Friday's blast
Authorities from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were seen processing the area where the explosion occurred. Law enforcement sources told ABC News the newly-uncovered writings by Warner included conspiracy theories about the so-called 'lizard people'
Crews on the scene surveying the aftermath of the blast. Warner is also believed to have spent time hunting for alien life forms in a nearby state park, the sources said
A death certificate obtained by DailyMail.com notes that Charles, nicknamed Popeye, died of dementia after spending his career working for BellSouth, a former AT&T subsidiary which re-merged with the company in 2006.
Electronic devices seized from Warner's former home in Antioch, a suburb of Nashville, have been sent to a digital forensics laboratory to unlock his online activity.
It is not yet clear if Warner's apparent obsession with various conspiracy theories played into his motive for the blast.
A former colleague of Warner's told the Daily Beast Tuesday that the 20-something-year-old technician already harbored a hatred for the police more than four decades ago.
Tom Lundborg, who worked with Anthony Quinn Warner back in the 1970s, said Warner would lecture him that all cops were 'corrupt' and couldn't be trusted back when they both worked for A.C.E. Alarms, Lundborg's dad's burglar alarm company, in Antioch, Tennessee in the 1970s.
'I hate cops. They're all corrupt. Never trust a cop,' Warner would say, said Lundborg.
Warner appeared to target the AT&T transmission building in Nashville (above) in the Friday morning explosion. He was said to be paranoid that 5G technology was killing people and his late father worked for a company that merged with AT&T
It emerged Tuesday that police were warned in 2019 that Warner was building a bomb in his RV.
Warner's girlfriend Pamela Perry's lawyer Raymond Throckmorton called Nashville police on August 21 2019.
When they arrived Perry told officers that Anthony Warner was wiring up explosives inside the RV he kept parked in his home, half a mile from her own.
Perry also had two unloaded pistols that she said were Warner's and told officers she didn't want them in the home, according to a police report obtained by WKRN-TV.
Throckmorton also told police Warner 'frequently talked about the military and bomb making', and said he believed he was capable of making a bomb, the report states.
Yet officers failed to search the vehicle - the same RV used in the Christmas Day bombing.
Nashville police claim that Throckmorton blocked them from seeing inside the RV.
But Throckmorton told local media he had no recollection of that happening.
Police have said Warner was not on their radar prior to the Christmas Day blast.
Warner left behind clues that suggest he planned the bombing and intended to kill himself but authorities so far believe he was more intent on 'destruction than death' of others.
'We hope to get an answer. Sometimes, it's just not possible,' David Rausch, the director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said Monday in an interview on the Today show.
'The best way to find motive is to talk to the individual. We will not be able to do that in this case.'
The RV pictured moments before it exploded. Authorities are trying to piece together a motive
Investigators released this image which shows the moment the RV exploded on Christmas Day
'It does appear that the intent was more destruction than death,' he added, pointing to the warning that blared on speakers 15 minutes before the blast, allowing police to evacuate people living in the area.
Warner made preparations in the weeks prior to his suicide attack, including telling his ex-girlfriend that he had cancer and giving her his car.
It is unclear whether he indeed had cancer.
On December 5, he also told a real estate agent that he worked for as a tech consultant that he planned to retire, according to the New York Times.
Anthony Quinn Warner (above)
A month before the bombing, Warner gave away the $160,000 home he lived in to a a 29-year-old, Los Angeles-based woman named Michelle Swing, whose ties to him are unclear, DailyMail.com first reported Saturday.
A property record dated November 25 indicates Warner transferred the home to Swing in exchange for no money after living there for decades. Her signature is not on that document.
Warner's neighbor Rick Laude said the bomber also told him 'the world is never going to forget me' in a conversation just before Christmas.
Laude said he didn't think much of the conversation at the time.
The FBI and the US Department of Justice's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which are jointly running the investigation, are still continuing people who knew Warner to find out what happened.
Investigators are also analyzing the chemical residue at the scene to determine what was used to make the bomb and how he got his hands on the materials used to make it.
A review of his financial transactions also uncovered purchases of potential bomb-making components, officials said.
The area of downtown Nashville continues to be covered in debris five days on from the blast.
Investigators are expected to complete their probe of the crime scene Friday.
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