Neighbor says Nashville bomber told him he was going to be 'so famous'

The suspected RV used in the Nashville bombing.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The FBI is still trying to determine a motive behind the Christmas Day explosion in downtown Nashville that injured at least eight people and damaged 40 buildings.

Police have identified Anthony Quinn Warner, 63, as the bomber, and say he died Friday morning when the RV he was in exploded. FBI agent Doug Korneski told CNN on Monday investigators are interviewing people who knew Warner in an attempt to find a motive, and so far, there is no indication that anyone else was involved in the bombing.

Warner lived in Antioch, Tennessee, and neighbor Rick Laude told CNN on Monday that four days before Christmas, he asked Warner, "Is Santa going to bring you something good for Christmas?" Laude said Warner responded, "Yes, I'm going to be more famous. I'm going to be so famous Nashville will never forget me."

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Laude did not suspect that Warner was going to achieve fame due to an act of terrorism, and stressed to CNN that no one in the neighborhood would "claim to be a friend of his. He was just a legitimate recluse." Other neighbors agreed, with one telling CNN Warner was "kind of a hermit," and they usually only waved at each other over their shared fence.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.