Nude gunman kills four at US restaurant: Police

A nude gunman shot dead four people and injured at least four more in the early hours on Sunday at a restaurant on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee, police said.

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said in a statement that the shooting occurred at a Waffle House restaurant in Antioch, a suburb southeast of Nashville, at 3:25 am.

“A patron wrestled away the gunman’s rifle. He was nude & fled on foot. He is a white man with short hair,” the statement added.

The following statement named 29-year-old Travis Reinking, of Morton, Illinois – a village located some 450 miles north of Antioch – as a person of interest. Police said the suspect arrived in a car registered to Reinking.

They added the gunman, who had shed his coat, was last seen walking on Murfreesboro Pike, where the 24-hour diner is located.

Local media citing police on the scene reported the gunman was armed with an AR-15 assault rifle – a weapon commonly used by mass shooters in the US, where a debate over gun control is fierce, and shootings are all-too-frequent.

Reports added at least one victim was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Centre, located in Nashville itself.

AR-15 rifles were used to kill 58 people in Las Vegas last October, while Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz in February opened fire on his former high school with an AR-15 style rifle, killing 17 students and staff members.