NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A chilling voicemail reveals a desperate attempt to warn people about the man responsible for the Christmas bombing downtown.
Anthony Warner's former girlfriend left the voicemail for her attorney more than a year ago - on the same day she warned police that Warner was building bombs in his RV.
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Attorney Ray Throckmorton says he dropped everything after getting a voicemail from a distraught female client - who was threatening suicide in August of last year.
"I arrived and I thought my client was going to harm herself," Throckmorton said. "She was incredibly upset about a friend of hers who had been harassing or threatening her."
That friend was Anthony Warner, who investigators say detonated a bomb in downtown Nashville on Christmas morning - from his RV.
In the 2019 voicemail Throckmorton saved, and played exclusively for NewsChannel 5 Investigates, the woman made it clear she wanted to stop Anthony Warner from hurting large numbers of people.
"I won't have hundreds, probably thousands of lives on my soul, and I will shoot him in the leg if I have to," the woman said.
Throckmorton said she continued saying those same things to police. A police report, first reported by NewsChannel 5 Investigates Tuesday, reveals she told Metro police officers that Anthony Warner "was building bombs in the RV Trailer of his residence."
Throckmorton was so concerned by what she was saying, that he also urged police to go to Warner's home to check it out.
"She did everything she could do. And I did everything I could do, and the ball got dropped," Throckmorton said.
Police determined that the woman, whose name we are withholding, needed a psychological evaluation and she voluntarily went for that purpose. The voicemail reveals she was desperately trying to get the word out about the danger Warner posed.
"And God don't make me shoot somebody. I'm going to call him over here and I'm going to record. I don't have proof, but I know what he is doing. And I'm afraid for my life and everybody else's," the woman said on the voicemail.
A police narrative indicates she had two unloaded pistols that belonged to "Tony Warner" and she wanted them out of her house. Throckmorton is still in contact with the woman.
He said the moment she saw news of the bombing downtown, she feared Anthony Warner was responsible.
"When she woke up Christmas Day, she picked up the phone and immediately called the FBI," Throckmorton said.
