Rick Laude said he saw Anthony Quinn Warner standing at his mailbox while driving on Dec. 21. Laude pulled over his car to speak with Warner and after asking how Warner’s elderly mother was doing, Laude said he casually asked Warner, “Is Santa going to bring you anything good for Christmas?” Laude said Warner smiled and then said, “Oh, yeah, Nashville and the world is never going to forget me.”
Laude, 57, a commercial truck driver, said he didn’t think much of the remark and thought Warner only meant that “something good” was going to happen for him. He said he was “speechless” later when he read that authorities had identified Warner as the suspected bomber.