Arrest Made in Attempted Bombing at Car at Tennessee Assisted Living Center

As of 12 p.m. on Saturday, Franklin Police have identified Mitchell Hunter Oakes as a person of interest in this case. State and federal bomb specialists safely detonated the device, and no one was harmed.

A Franklin police spokesperson said to the newspaper, “The device was sophisticated and created to do maximum harm to the intended victim, and would have hurt several others if it had detonated as intended”.

Authorities arrived at the facility, located at 211 Cool Springs Boulevard, at 7:15 a.m. Police said he was sought on charges of attempted first degree murder, unlawful possession of an explosive device, and being a convicted felon in possession of a weapon, as well as a felony warrant for an “unrelated matter” in Virginia.

Officials said around 60 of 220 patients at the facility had to be moved to “safe portions” of the facility. He has a criminal record and is considered extremely unsafe.

News 2 spoke with Stan Hardcastle, who said his mother is now inside the facility.

Call (615) 794-2513 if you know where he is. Both Franklin police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are offering a reward of up to $7,500 for information leading police to his whereabouts.

The components of the bomb Oakes is suspected of placing will be analyzed by the ATF at their Atlanta lab. Bond, booking and court date information was not immediately available.

“Hopefully the police can get this package and get it resolved or dissolved or whatever so that everybody can get back to normal”, he said.