Nashville Waffle House Killer Arrested
April 24, 2018
An intense manhunt has ended for the suspect in a Waffle House restaurant shooting that ended with four people being killed. Travis Reinking has been arrested. He was taken into custody at 1:07 pm in a wooded area less than a mile from his apartment complex.
Reinking was nearly naked, wearing only a green jacket and raising an assault-style rifle when he opened fire in the parking lot. He stormed to the restaurant early Sunday, police stated. In addition to the four people who were killed, there were four that were wounded. A customer, 29-year-old James Shaw Jr, wrestled the gun away from the suspect which prevented even greater loss of life.
Travis Reinking did not resist when police captured him. He was taken to a precinct where he requested a lawyer and wouldn’t speak to the investigators. It is still not clear as to why Reinking opened fire on the restaurant. Police say he may have mental issues. Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson stated, “He was considered armed and dangerous, because he was known to have owned a handgun authorities have not recovered.” He has had run-ins with the authorities before. In July of 2017 he was arrested by U.S. Secret Service for being in a restricted area near the White House. He wanted to meet with President Trump.
In a tweet, Nashville Mayor David Briley reported, “The people of Antioch and all of Nashville can breathe a sign of relief.” Steve Anderson called the arrest a “team effort” and praised all the citizens who called in the sighting. The woman who called 911 told reporters she was working near a construction site when she saw a man who looked like Reinking in the distance running behind a school and through tall grass.
John Jiler • Dec 10, 2018 at 6:02 pm
THE NOTORIOUS NINETEEN
Dear Editor;
Autumn is deepening, and seniors are thinking harder and harder about their next step. For many of us, your generation is the hope of the future. The Parkland high school shootings galvanized young people across the nation to passionately advocate for common sense gun laws. Now, as your attention turns to college, we want to turn our admiration into action.
With the help of the Brady Center, the new Gabby Giffords consortium, Everytown for Gun Safety and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, we’ve reached out to high school journalists across the country with our list of the NOTORIOUS NINETEEN—the states with dangerous, inadequate gun laws. Many of them condone the open carry of weapons on college campuses; others simply turn a blind eye to the potential for gun violence in their state. Our mission has been to make these places known to high school seniors. We’re encouraging them NOT to apply to college in…
ALABAMA, ALASKA, ARIZONA, ARKANSAS, FLORIDA, GEORGIA, IDAHO, KANSAS, KENTUCKY, MISSISSIPPI, MISSOURI, MONTANA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, NORTH DAKOTA, OKLAHOMA, TEXAS, UTAH, WEST VIRGINIA, or WYOMING.
Sadly, your state is on this list. You’re no doubt very proud of the place you live, and you should be. But the gun violence epidemic in this country has taken too many lives, and things must change. You can be part of that change, by encouraging your elected officials and your families and your friends to think about some serious questions. Should teenagers be able to order AR-15s through the mail? Should people with a history of mental illness be allowed easy access to guns? If you feel the answer to these questions is “no,” we all have a lot of work to do!
Thank you for considering the publication of this letter in your newspaper. Good luck with your own decision about college, and have a safe and prosperous senior year!
Best,
John Jiler,
Coordinator,
Committee for Scholastic Action On Guns