Ex-employer: Something ‘off’ about Waffle House suspect
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The suspect in Sunday’s killings at a Tennessee Waffle House once lived in Colorado, where police say a co-worker described him as being paranoid and delusional at times. The coworker also told a detective the man was infatuated with singer Taylor Swift.
Travis Reinking, 29, lived in Salida, Colo., for several months in 2016 and 2017 and worked at a company called Rocky Mountain Crane, Detective Sgt. Rob Martellaro of the Salida Police Department said in a report Monday.
Former co-workers at Rocky Mountain Crane who were interviewed by police in Salida described Reinking as complex.
He didn’t drink or do drugs, according to a police report describing the interviews, and he was known as intelligent, polite and an excellent equipment operator. He didn’t like the government or the National Rifle Association, and he talked about being a “sovereign citizen.” The FBI says sovereign citizens believe they are separate from the U.S. and don’t have to answer to any government authority, including courts and law enforcement.
“He’s a good kid that went off the handle for some reason,” said Dave Warren, who once worked with Reinking in Colorado.
What seemed to drive Reinking more than anything was an obsession with Swift, the report said.
Reinking told police — once in Tazewell County, Ill., in 2016, and again in Colorado last year — that Swift was stalking him. He was infatuated with her and supposedly purchased a $14,000 ring and drove to California to try to meet her, authorities said.
But co-workers also A former colleague called Travis Reinking “a good kid that went off the handle.” knew Reinking as openly gay, according to the interview notes. At one point, he quit work believing police were following him and later drove to Last Chance, an unincorporated community in eastern Colorado, thinking it was his “last chance” to marry Swift, the report said.
Ken and Darlene Sustrich, the owners of the crane service where Reinking worked for six months, recalled a time when he and other members of a crew were returning to Salida after completing a job. As they passed through the town of Last Chance, Reinking quit on the spot.
“He misconstrued that was his last chance,” Ken Sustrich said. “He got superparanoid, and he quit that day. He said, ‘This is my last chance.’ ”
Reinking’s intelligence impressed them. He would sometimes talk about astrophysics, Darlene Sustrich said.
In his last few days at the crane service, he began showing signs of paranoia.
“You could see something was off with him, but nothing violent,” Darlene Sustrich said. Then came a call from the FBI, saying Reinking had tried to jump the White House fence.
“We told them, ‘ Hang onto him if you can. Help him if you can,’ ” she said.
Ken Sustrich told police that he reached out to Reinking’s father with concerns about his son’s mental health. He said the father replied that he was aware of the issues and “had been recently trying to rekindle his relationship with Travis,” the police report said.
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall said Tuesday that Reinking has been “compliant” and “cooperative” since he was transferred to the jail late Monday after he was captured near the apartment where he lived. Reinking is wearing a vest known informally as a “suicide smock” and will remain under close observation at a maximum-security facility.
Also on Tuesday, a Nashville judge revoked the bond of the shooting suspect, who is charged with four counts of homicide.
Court records show that a judge struck Reinking’s $2 million bond until a hearing can be held Wednesday. The records did not give a reason why General Sessions Judge Michael Mondelli revoked the bond.
An attorney listed as Reinking’s lawyer did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Nashville police say they were not aware of Reinking’s past fixation with Swift, but authorities in Music City say they are all too familiar with people preoccupied with the superstar, who has a home there. “You wouldn’t believe how many people are obsessed with Taylor Swift,” Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson said.
Meanwhile, the man who snatched an AR-15 rifle away from the gunman at the restaurant told Tennessee lawmakers Tuesday he faced “the true test of a man,” drawing a standing ovation. As the House hailed him as a hero with a resolution, James Shaw Jr. said he acted early Sunday to save his own life, and saved others in the process.