The NYPD is increasing patrols around cell phone towers following the explosion of a bomb inside an R.V. in Nashville, Tennessee on Christmas. The van had been discovered parked outside an AT&T transmission building.
In a statement released hours after the bombing, an NYPD spokesperson said officers with the Counterterrorism Bureau Critical Response unit have been "providing special attention to critical communication infrastructure locations."
"We are closely monitoring the Nashville investigation through our Intelligence Bureau, our FBI partners on the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the ATF and the Department of Homeland Security," NYPD spokesperson, Sgt. Jessica McRorie, said in a statement.
New York State has identified 16 so-called "critical infrastructure sectors" that include emergency services, financial services, and transportation systems. Those hubs get assistance from the Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit, which offers security to those facilities.
Dispatching extra personnel to key locations is standard practice for the NYPD, particularly during instances of confirmed terror attacks on U.S. soil or abroad. That was the case following the 2019 massacre at a mosque in New Zealand, the 2017 killing of seven people on London Bridge, and a mass shooting at a newspaper in France in 2015.
Surveillance images released by federal authorities show the vehicle first arrived on Second Avenue North at 1:22 a.m., parking outside the AT&T tower, which is located a half-mile away from another AT&T office tower. A female computerized voice coming from a loudspeaker attached to the R.V. soon calmly delivered a message to anyone nearby: a bomb would go off in 15 minutes.
The eerie computerized message played over a loudspeaker coming from the R.V., which eventually detonated, sending shockwaves across Second Avenue North, destroying nearby vehicles, setting off alarms, and damaging dozens of businesses.
AT&T and T-Mobile customers experienced outages as a result of the bombing, which also resulted in the Federal Aviation Administration briefly stopping flights out of Nashville International Airport. Police officials said there have been no confirmed fatalities as a result of the overnight bombing, but did find human tissue in the rubble caused by the bombing. Three people were injured.
Police have reportedly identified a person of interest in a neighborhood 10 miles away from the explosion.
Even before the bombing, the NYPD had already been on high alert, distributing an internal memo on December 18th warning officers of potential attacks by anarchists, extremists, lone-wolf attackers, and knife-wielding assassins. The NYPD confirmed the existence of the memo, but did not provide any details on what prompted the release of the memo.
