Nashville’s Fraternal Order of Police president is hailing the “true heroism” officers displayed while responding to the Christmas Day explosion in the city.
“What we witnessed … yesterday morning was nothing short of heroism and courageous actions by those six officers, who received a call about shots being fired in the area and they charged towards the danger like any other police officer in our nation would,” James Smallwood, president of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) in Nashville, Tenn., told “FOX & Friends Weekend” on Saturday morning.
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An explosion linked to a vehicle occurred at 6:30 a.m. Friday morning outside a building on 2nd Avenue in Nashville, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department tweeted. Officers Brenna Hosey, James Luellen, Michael Sipos, Amanda Topping and James Wells, as well as Sgt. Timothy Miller, responded to the incident.
“When they got there, obviously the danger continued to increase,” Smallwood said. “And they took swift action, and they started working in the streets and in the neighborhood to clear residents from the area and clear pedestrians from the area.”
“They put themselves in between good and evil,” he added. “And they saved lives, without a doubt.”
Nashville Mayor John Cooper also praised the officers during a Friday evening press conference.
“These incredible heroes, who ran to danger with uncertain outcomes ahead of them, were responsible for so many injuries being saved,” Cooper said. “They are heroes.”
Several of the responding officers were brand-new to the force or had under two years of experience, “Fox & Friends” anchor Pete Hegseth said during the interview. Smallwood said the department’s officers are trained to “take swift actions to protect the community they serve.”
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“We do everything we can to provide the best training we can for our officers, but we can’t predict every situation,” Smallwood said.
Smallwood said the incident remains under investigation.
“We’ve got local, state, and federal agents all working together trying to put the pieces of this puzzle together,” ge added. “There’s a lot of questions that need to be answered.”
Metro Nashville PD asks anyone with information to contact authorities via Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463 or online via http://fbi.gov/nashville.