Investigators are looking into whether the man who detonated a bomb inside an RV in Nashville, Tennessee on Christmas morning had a “paranoia over 5G” technology, according to reports.
Anthony Quinn Warner has been identified as the suspect for the bombing after DNA evidence was found at the scene.
Sources told ABC News that investigators are “looking seriously” into whether “paranoia” about 5G technology was part of Warner’s motive for the attack.
The explosion occurred in front of an AT&T transmission building early Friday morning, and the Wall Street Journal reports that investigators are considering whether the building was targeted.
Conspiracies around 5G technology have grown in recent years, with the technology recently being baselessly linked to the coronavirus pandemic. As the Daily Dot wrote in June: “Despite there being no scientific validity or compelling evidence in favor of these theories, 5G has been reframed as a super-weapon capable of sickening large swaths of humanity through the virus, and tracking anyone who survives the pandemic. Because of it, 5G towers around Europe have been subjected to vandalism and arson, engineers installing 5G tech have been attacked, and a whole lot of misinformation has gone viral—freaking out millions of people that their new cell phone is trying to kill them.”
Meanwhile, News4 Nashville, a local television news outlet, spoke with a real estate agent who had Warner do IT work for his company. The real estate agent told the news outlet that he contacted the FBI after seeing Warner’s name in connection to the bombing and that the agents asked him if Warner had paranoia about 5G. He told investigators Warner had never spoken to him about 5G.
The news outlet also noted that the possible 5G-related motive was among several angles being looked at by investigators.
In a press conference on Sunday night, Doug Korneski, the FBI special agent in charge of the Memphis Field Office, said investigators were “not at a position to speculate on that now” when asked about a possible 5G-related motive, according to CNN.
While Korneski on Sunday declined to speculate on the motive, Nashville Mayor John Cooper told CBS on Sunday that it “feels like there has to be some connection with the AT&T facility and the site of the bombing.”