Naked gunman kills 4 in US city of Nashville

LOCAL MEDIA CITING POLICE REPORTED THE GUNMAN WAS ARMED WITH AN AR15 ASSAULT RIFLE, COMMONLY USED BY MASS SHOOTERS IN THE U.S.

WASHINGTON: A nude gunman opened fire at a restaurant on the outskirts of Nashville city in the US state of Tennessee on Sunday morning, killing four people and wounding at least three, local authorities said.

Nashville Police tweeted that the gunman opened fire at 3.25 am, adding that “he was nude & fled on foot. He is a white man with short hair”. Police have said Travis Reinking, a 29-yearold from Illinois state, is a “person of interest” in the incident.

“It’s a tragic day for our city anytime people lose their lives at the hands of a gunman,” Nashville mayor David Briley said in a statement.

Authorities said the gunman arrived at the Waffle House restaurant in a vehicle that was registered in his name. He was wearing only a green jacket at the time, and fled on foot, nude. He just sat in his vehicle for a while before entering the restaurant carrying an “assault-type rifle” and fatally shot two people outside. He then “went inside the restaurant (and) continued firing”.

The gunman was stopped by a customer who had hid near the bathroom and pounced on him when he saw an opportunity.

“He saw the gunman looking at his rifle,” Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron said. “At that point, the shots had stopped. So he decided to rush the gunman, actually wrestled that assault rifle away, tossed it over the counter. At that point, the gunman then fled.”