Waffle House visitors show solidarity after shooting

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee residents living near a Waffle House where a man fatally shot four people have been filing into the restaurant to grab a meal and show their support for employees.

Workers who had expressed a desire to get the restaurant up and running quickly wore orange ribbons, wept, and hugged each other at Wednesday’s reopening in Nashville. Company officials said they will donate a month of the restaurant’s sales to help the wounded survivors and the families of the slain.

The parents of 20-year-old Joe Perez, one of the victims of the shooting Sunday morning, signed four white crosses outside, one of them bearing their son’s name and picture.

A woman who was working during the attack, her face still bearing scrapes, knelt before the four white crosses erected to commemorate the victims.

The dead included Perez and Taurean Sanderlin, 29, who worked at the Waffle House. Sanderlin had been on a cigarette break in the parking lot when the killer stepped out of his truck brandishing an AR-15 rifle and opened fire. The gunman then stormed the restaurant.

Also killed were Akilah Dasilva, a 23-year-old student at Middle Tennessee State University, and Deebony Groves, a 21-year-old student at Belmont University. Four people were also wounded.

Police credit James Shaw Jr., a customer who wrestled the weapon away from the gunman, for averting more bloodshed. The suspect fled after the scuffle and was captured the following day after a massive manhunt in Antioch, a neighborhood in southeastern Nashville. Police have identified him as Travis Reinking, 29.

Employees got emotional at times Wednesday, but they also thanked the customers for coming back.