Nashville explosion: Police officers’ heroism saved lives

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Fast-thinking and organization by six police officers helped avert casualties when a recreational vehicle exploded early Friday in downtown Nashville, Tennessee.

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“These officers’ acts of heroism is just tremendous,” Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said during a news conference Friday.

Officers responded to a call about shots fired in downtown Nashville shortly after 5:40 a.m. CT, when they spotted the RV parked outside the AT&T transmission center near Second Avenue and Commerce Street.

Drake said a taped message from the RV noted that a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes and advised residents to evacuate.

The officers immediately began going to door to door, rousing residents and evacuating apartments, WZTV reported.

One officer diverted David Molloy, who was walking his black German shepherd, into a building just before the explosion, CNN reported.

“These officers didn’t care about themselves,” Drake said at the news conference. “They didn’t think about that. They cared about the citizens of Nashville. They went in and we’d be talking not about the debris that we have here but potential people.”

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Here are the officers Drake mentioned:

· Officer Brenna Hosey, who has been with the department for 4 years;

· Officer James Luellen, who has been with the department for 3 years;

· Officer Michael Sipos, who has been with the department for 16 months;

· Officer Amanda Topping, who has been with the department for 21 months;

· Officer James Wells, who has been with the department for 21 months;

· Sgt. Timothy Miller, who has been with the department for 11 years.

“We think lives were saved from these officers,” Metro Nashville Police spokesman Don Aaron said at the news conference.

Cox Media Group