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A tip from the community led to Travis Reinking’s arrest shortly after 1 p.m. Monday in a wooded area near his Nashville apartment complex, Metro Nashville Police said. He will be booked on four counts of criminal homicide after he leaves a hospital, spokesman Don Aaron said.
“Yesterday was a horrible day for the city of Nashville,” Mayor David Briley said. “Today is a day where we can start to move on as a community.”
Reinking did not resist arrest when a detective found him and pulled a gun on him, Lt. Carlos Lara said. Reinking requested a lawyer and declined to provide a statement.
He was wearing jeans and a maroon shirt and carrying a backpack, Lara said. The backpack contained a firearm, ammunition and a flashlight.
It’s not clear what Reinking did during his time on the run. And the motive for the attack remains a mystery.
Reinking arrived at the Waffle House in Antioch, part of the metro Nashville area, just before 3:20 a.m. Sunday.
He sat in his pickup truck for 3 1/2 to 4 minutes “just looking at people inside the restaurant,” Aaron said.
Then, wearing only a green jacket, the gunman got out with an “assault-type rifle” and fatally shot two people outside the Waffle House, police said.
He continued his rampage inside the restaurant, killing another two people.
The carnage stopped only because of the heroics of a customer, James Shaw Jr., who monitored the gunman’s moves from afar and jumped into action when he saw an opportunity.
Shaw “saw the gunman looking at his rifle. At that point, the shots had stopped. So he decided to rush the gunman, actually wrestled that assault rifle away, tossed it over the counter. At that point, the gunman then fled,” Aaron said.
Shaw denied that he was a hero, saying his actions were “a selfish act” to save himself.
What we know about the suspect
Reinking is from Morton, Illinois, and police believe he moved to the Nashville area last fall.
He worked in construction but was fired from a job about three weeks ago, police said. Reinking started with another construction company last Monday, but did not show up for work Tuesday.
The 29-year-old has a history of delusions and run-ins with the law.
In May 2016, Reinking had a delusional episode and told first responders that he believed pop star Taylor Swift was stalking him, according to a police report.
Reinking’s family also told police he had made comments about killing himself.
Reinking said he wanted to meet with US President Donald Trump and told a Secret Service officer at the northeast entrance that he was a “sovereign citizen” who had a “right to inspect the grounds,” according to a Metropolitan Police Department incident report dated July 7, 2017.
He was charged with unlawful entry, an arrest report states, but the charges were dismissed after he completed community service.
Authorities in Tazewell County, Illinois, later returned the seized weapons to Reinking’s father. Police said the father gave later gave them back to his son.
The lives lost
The four people killed were all under 30 years old.
Two of them were fatally shot outside the restaurant: Waffle House employee Taurean C. Sanderlin, 29, of nearby Goodlettsville, and customer Joe R. Perez, 20, of Nashville.
Inside, the gunman killed two more people: 23-year-old Akilah Dasilva of Antioch and 21-year-old DeEbony Groves of nearby Gallatin.
DaSilva’s cousin said the world lost a talented young man who excelled in computer science and music.
“He was a genius. He was super smart. Smarter than me,” Kareem DaSilva said.
“One of the things I liked about him is that he was a hard worker. He never gave up, and he was quick to learn. He was very impressive.”
CNN’s Tina Burnside, David Williams, Emanuella Grinberg and Amir Vera contributed to this report.
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