Waffle House shooting suspect had history of disturbed behaviour
The mentally unstable gunman suspected of killing four people in a shooting at a Waffle House restaurant in Nashville was arrested near his apartment yesterday after hiding from police for more than a day, authorities said.
Police and federal agents had mounted a massive manhunt for 29-year-old Travis Reinking after the Monday morning attack, in which a gunman clad only in a jacket opened fire with an assault rifle on a diverse crowd at the restaurant before a customer disarmed him.
Reinking was formally charged yesterday with four counts of criminal homicide and held on a US$2 million bond ($2.8m).
Construction workers told officers earlier yesterday that a person matching Reinking’s description walked into the woods near a construction site, Metro Nashville Police Department Lieutenant Carlos Lara told reporters. A detective spotted Reinking, who lay down on the ground to be handcuffed when confronted. Lara said Reinking carried a black backpack with a silver semi-automatic weapon and .45-calibre ammunition.
Detectives cut the backpack off him while he was cuffed.
Police spokesman Don Aaron said Reinking requested a lawyer and was taken to a hospital before being booked into custody.
It’s not clear why Reinking attacked, though he may have “mental issues”, Nashville police Chief Steve Anderson said earlier.
Police said Reinking opened fire in the restaurant parking lot before storming the restaurant, which had about 20 people inside. Four people — three of them black and one Hispanic — were killed and four others injured before a customer wrestled the weapon away and Reinking, who is white, ran out, police said.
Police said Reinking stole a BMW days before the attack. The car was quickly recovered, but authorities did not immediately link the theft 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.
Reinking agreed to go to a local hospital for an evaluation after repeatedly resisting the request, the sheriff’s report said.
Another sheriff’s report said Reinking barged into a community pool in Tremont, Illinois, last June, and jumped into the water wearing a woman’s pink 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. — AP