Waffle House suspect still carried gun when captured
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The man suspected of opening fire at a Waffle House restaurant was arrested not far from his apartment Monday after hiding from police for more than a day after the attack that killed four people, authorities said.
Authorities had mounted a large-scale manhunt for Travis Reinking, 29, after the Sunday morning attack, in which a gunman clad only in a jacket used an AR-15 rifle to kill four and injure four others.
Metropolitan Nashville Police announced Monday on Twitter that he was taken into custody.
A detective from the department’s specialized investigations division’s narcotics unit spotted Reinking in woods near a construction site, Lt. Carlos Lara told reporters. He said construction workers told officers a person matching the suspect’s description walked through the area and into the woods. When confronted, the suspect lay down on the ground, and officers cuffed him, Lara said.
He said Reinking carried a black backpack that held a silver semi-automatic weapon and .45-caliber ammunition.
Police spokesman Don Aaron said Reinking requested a lawyer, was taken to a hospital and would be booked on four counts of criminal homicide.
Reinking opened fire with an AR-15 in the Waffle House parking lot and then stormed the restaurant shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday, police say. Four people were killed, and four others were injured before customer James Shaw Jr., 29, wrestled the assault weapon away, preventing more bloodshed.
Reinking then ran away, police said.
Police said Reinking stole a BMW days before the attack. The car was quickly recovered, but authorities did not immediately link it to Reinking.
Meanwhile, authorities in Illinois shared past reports suggesting multiple red flags about a disturbed man with paranoid delusions.
Last July, Reinking was arrested by the U.S. Secret Service after he entered a restricted area near the White House and refused to leave, saying he wanted to meet President Donald Trump. Reinking was not armed at the time, but at the FBI’s request, state police in Illinois revoked his state firearms card and seized four guns from him, authorities said.
The AR-15 used in the shootings was among the firearms seized.
In August, Reinking told police he wanted to file a report about 20 to 30 people tapping into his computer and phone and people “barking like dogs” outside his residence, according to a report.
“There’s certainly evidence that there’s some sort of mental-health issues involved,” Sheriff Robert Huston of Tazewell County, Ill., said. But he added that deputies returned the guns to Reinking’s father on the promise that he would “keep the weapons secure and out of the possession of Travis.”
Reinking’s father “has now acknowledged giving them back” to his son, Aaron said. A federal official says the father could face charges.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special Agent Marcus Watson said that Jeffrey Reinking’s act of returning the guns to his son is “potentially a violation of federal law.”
The victims killed in the Waffle House parking lot were identified as Joe Perez, 20, of Nashville, and Taurean Sanderlin, 29, of Goodlettsville. Sanderlin was an employee at the restaurant.
Killed inside were DeEbony Groves, 21, a student at Nashville’s Belmont University, and Akilah Dasilva, 23, a rap artist and music video producer from Antioch. He was at the restaurant with his girlfriend, Tia Waggoner, 21, who was wounded.
Sharita Henderson, 24, of Antioch also was wounded, police say.
Also injured was Shaw, who burned his hand grabbing the hot muzzle of the AR-15 as he wrestled the weapon away.
Shaw said he pounced on the suspect after making up his mind that “he was going to have to work to kill me.”