Phil Pulaski has 38 years of law enforcement experience including more than 33 years with the New York City Police Department (NYPD). During 2014, Phil Pulaski retired as NYPD’s Chief of Detectives where he was responsible for more than 3,600 personnel. Additionally, Phil Pulaski has 25 years of bomb operations experience and was commanding officer of the NYPD’s Arson and Explosion Squad. He managed numerous post-blast and pre-blast operations including the Times Square terrorist attempted bombing on May 1, 2010 and NYC subway terrorist planned bombing on July 31, 1997. Phil Pulaski also led a team of NYPD investigators who immediately responded to Oklahoma City to assist the FBI during the investigation of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. In the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Phil Pulaski worked jointly with his FBI counterpart to manage numerous investigations involving terrorist bomb threats and potential bombings.
On December 25, 2020, a car bomb was detonated in downtown Nashville Tennessee. The explosion took place at 166 Second Avenue North between Church Street and Commerce Street at 6:30 am, adjacent to an AT&T network transmission hub building. The explosion caused days-long extremely serious communication service outages. The vehicle containing the bomb was parked outside the AT&T building in downtown Nashville at 1:22 am on December 25, 2020. Four to five hours after being parked, residents in the vicinity were awakened by what seemed to be the sound of rapid gunfire in at least three bursts, followed by a computerized female voice broadcasting over a public address system: "This area must be evacuated now. If you can hear this message, evacuate now." Witnesses recalled that the broadcast warned that there was a bomb in the vehicle. Prior to the explosion, a 15-minute countdown was broadcast from the vehicle.
Responding to reports of shots being fired at approximately 5:30 am, two Metropolitan Nashville Police Department officers arrived at the incident scene. Though they did not hear any shots, they discovered the parked vehicle and heard the warning. They and three other responding officers subsequently evacuated homes in the area and called in additional police while a sixth officer stayed on the street to redirect pedestrian and vehicular traffic. At one point, two of the officers investigated the vehicle and observed a camera positioned above its rearview mirror. At 6:30 am, while the bomb squad was on its way to the area, the vehicle exploded. The explosion was felt miles away from the blast site. Three innocent people were injured and dozens of buildings were severely damaged.
The investigation of the incident is being led by the FBI. Currently, authorities are stating a suicide bomber detonated the vehicle bomb and that he intentionally remained in the vehicle when it detonated. Additionally, authorities are stating that the suicide attack was perpetrated by 63-year-old Anthony Quinn Warner, a Nashville resident who is believed to have acted alone.
