Hiding coward caught in woods

WAFFLE HOUSE GUNMAN Travis Reinking was arrested Monday afternoon after hiding in the woods of Nashville, more than a day after the partially nude suspect killed four people at the restaurant.

Reinking wore a red, longsleeve T-shirt — with tears showing scratches on his right shoulder — and dirt-covered jeans when he was photographed in the back of a police cruiser.

Undercover detectives with Metro Nashville’s narcotics unit found the 29-year-old Illinois native just after 1 p.m. local time in a wooded area behind the apartment complex where he had lived since last fall.

Someone called cops to say they saw a man who matched Reinking’s description sneaking through a construction site into the secluded area in the Antioch neighborhood.

Reinking got on the ground as soon as one detective who saw him drew his weapon, squad leader Lt. Carlos Laura said at a news conference.

“As soon as the detectives saw him, there was really no communication,” said Laura.

Detectives found a Kimber semiautomatic handgun, .45-caliber ammunition, a holster and a flashlight inside the black backpack Reinking was wearing.

The suspected killer asked for a lawyer and refused to give a statement when cops brought him to a local precinct, police spokesman Don Aaron added.

Authorities are unsure how long Reinking was in the wooded area, located about a mile south of the Waffle House he sprayed with bullets 36 hours earlier.

They were looking into how Reinking got his

Gunman Travis Reinking in Nashville police cruiser Monday following his capture in search that included federal agents (far right). Center, cleanup at Waffle House where four people were killed.