Shooting suspect arrested
Man who police accuse of killing four at Waffle House found after intense manhunt
NASHVILLE— The mentally unstable gunman suspected of opening fire at a Waffle House restaurant in the middle of the night was arrested not far from his apartment Monday after hiding from police for more than a day following the attack that killed four people, authorities said.
Authorities had mounted a massive manhunt for 29-year-old Travis Reinking, after the Sunday morning attacks, in which a gunman clad only in a jacket used an AR-15 rifle to kill four and injure others.
Metropolitan Nashville Police announced Monday on Twitter that he was taken into custody not far from his apartment.
Adetective from the department’s specialized investigations unit narcotics division spotted Reinking in a wood area near a construction site, Lt. Carlos Lara told news reporters.
He said construction workers told officers a person matching the suspect’s description walked through the area and into the woods. When confronted, the suspect lay down on the ground, and officers cuffed him, Lara said.
He said Reinking carried a black backpack that held a silver semi-automatic weapon and .45-calibre ammunition. Detectives cut the backpack off of the suspect, he said.
Police spokesperson Don Aaron said Reinking requested a lawyer, was taken to a hospital and would later be booked on four counts of criminal homicide.
Reinking, described as a white man with brown hair, opened fire with an AR-15 in the Waffle House parking lot and then stormed the restaurant shortly after 3 a.m. on Sunday, police say. Four people were killed and four others were injured before a quick-thinking customer wrestled the assault weapon away, preventing more bloodshed. Reinking then disappeared, police said.
Police say about 20 people were in the Waffle House at the time of the shootings. They included people of different races and ethnicities but the four people killed were minorities, three Black and one Hispanic.
It’s not clear why Reinking opened fire on restaurant patrons, though he may have “mental issues,” Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson said earlier.
Police said Reinking had stolen a BMW days before the attack. The car was quickly recovered, but authorities did not immediately link it to Reinking.
Meanwhile, authorities in Illinois shared past reports suggesting multiple red flags about a disturbed young man with paranoid delusions.
In May 2016, Reinking told deputies from Tazewell County, Illinois, that music superstar Taylor Swift was stalking him and hacking his phone, and that his family was also involved, according to a report released Sunday.
Another sheriff’s report said Reinking barged into a community pool in Tremont, Illinois, last June, and jumped into the water wearing a pink woman’s coat over his underwear. Investigators believed he had an AR-15 rifle in his car trunk, but it was never displayed. No charges were filed.
Last July, Reinking was arrested by the U.S. Secret Service after he crossed into a restricted area near the White House and refused to leave, saying he wanted to meet U.S. President Donald Trump. Reinking was not armed at the time, but at the FBI’s request, state police in Illinois revoked his state firearms card and seized four guns from him, authorities said.
“There’s certainly evidence that there’s some sort of mental health issues involved,” Tazewell County Sheriff Robert Huston said. But he said deputies returned the guns to Reinking’s father on the promise that he would “keep the weapons secure and out of the possession of Travis.”
Reinking’s father “has now acknowledged giving them back” to his son, Aaron said.