Nashville Waffle House shooting

Last updated

Nashville Waffle House shooting
Map Nashville.jpg
Red pog.svg
Shooting location
Shooting location (Nashville)
USA Tennessee location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Shooting location
Shooting location (Tennessee)
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Shooting location
Shooting location (the United States)
LocationWaffle House
3571 Murfreesboro Pike, Antioch, Nashville, Tennessee, US
Coordinates 36°03′02″N86°36′56″W / 36.05056°N 86.61556°W / 36.05056; -86.61556
DateApril 22, 2018
3:25 a.m. (CDT)
Attack type
 Mass shooting, mass murder
Weapon Bushmaster XM-15 semi-automatic rifle [1] [2] [3]
Deaths4 [1]
Injured4 (2 by gunfire) [1]
PerpetratorTravis Jeffrey Reinking [4]
Defender James Shaw Jr.
Motive Delusions [5]
Verdict Guilty on all counts
Convictions
Sentence Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole

On April 22, 2018, a mass shooting occurred at a Waffle House restaurant in the Antioch neighborhood [1] of Nashville, Tennessee, United States, when 29-year-old Travis Jeffrey Reinking fatally shot four people and injured two others with an AR-15 style rifle. [6] Another two people were injured by broken glass. [7] Reinking was rushed by an unarmed customer, James Shaw Jr., who wrestled the rifle away and stopped the shooting spree. Reinking was captured on April 23, ending a 34-hour manhunt. [8] [9] [4]

Contents

Due to severe schizophrenia, Reinking was initially found incompetent to stand trial and committed to a mental hospital for treatment. [10] Later that decision was changed and Reinking was put on trial for four counts of first degree premeditated murder on January 31, 2022. He was convicted of the charges on February 4, 2022. [11]

Shooting

Reinking was partially naked when the shooting occurred, wearing only a green jacket. After sitting in a pickup truck in the parking lot for approximately four minutes, he came out holding an AR-15-style rifle [1] [2] [12] and fatally shot two people outside the Waffle House. He went inside the restaurant and continued to fire, killing a third person and fatally injuring a fourth, who died at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, [13] with four others treated for related injuries. One customer, 29-year-old James Shaw Jr., who suffered a bullet graze wound, [14] hid near the restaurant's bathrooms, rushed the shooter, and wrestled the rifle away. Reinking then fled on foot, totally nude after having abandoned his jacket. [1] [15] [12] [16] He discharged his rifle a total of 30 times during the attack, consisting of 15 shots outside and 15 shots inside; and his jacket contained 60 rounds of live ammunition that had not been used. [17]

Perpetrator

Travis Jeffrey Reinking
Born (1989-02-01) February 1, 1989 (age 35)
Morton, Illinois, U.S.
Criminal status Incarcerated
Criminal penalty Life imprisonment without parole
Details
DateApril 22, 2018
Country United States
Location(s) Nashville, Tennessee
Killed4
Injured4 (2 by gunfire)
Imprisoned at Morgan County Correctional Complex

Travis Reinking was from Morton, Illinois. [16] He had a history of erratic conduct, paranoia and delusions, and was particularly obsessed with pop singer Taylor Swift. At one point, he confused his coworkers by saying that he was gay while also claiming that he had plans to marry Taylor Swift. In May 2016, sheriff's deputies in Tazewell County responded to a call from Reinking's parents in the parking lot of a drugstore, where a paramedic said Reinking had delusions that Swift was personally stalking him and hacking his phone. The report noted: "Travis is hostile toward police and does not recognize police authority. Travis also possesses several firearms." [18]

In 2017, Reinking lived in an apartment above his father's crane rental business in Tremont, Illinois. He worked as a crane operator for another company, but quit his job in March 2017 because he believed police were following him, and that his "last chance" to marry Taylor Swift was soon approaching. In June 2017, an employee of his father's business called police, saying Reinking had come downstairs carrying a rifle, wearing a pink dress, and using an expletive before tossing the rifle in his trunk and leaving the building. On another occasion around the same time, a public pool director called police to report Reinking had come to the pool in a "pink women's housecoat" and then exposed himself to lifeguards. [18]

In July 2017, the U.S. Secret Service arrested Reinking near the White House after he crossed a barrier and refused to leave. The Secret Service said Reinking had said he "wanted to set up a meeting with the president". [1] The report notes he made reference to being a "sovereign citizen". [19] [20] Reinking was charged with unlawful entry (a misdemeanor) and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement in July 2017, in which Reinking performed 32 hours of community service and was ordered to stay away from the White House. In November 2017, the court dismissed the case after Reinking successfully completed the program. [21] [19]

Following Reinking's arrest, Illinois authorities revoked his state firearms authorization and seized four of his weapons (including the AR-15 used in the Nashville shooting, two other rifles (a .30-06 Remington Model 710 & a .22-caliber CZ 452-2EZKM), and a handgun). [8] [22] According to the sheriff of Tazewell County, Illinois, Reinking's father, Jeffrey Reinking, who held a valid state authorization card, asked sheriff's deputies if he could keep the guns, and they allowed him to do so after he assured them "he would keep them secure and away from" his son. [22] Reinking's father admitted later that he had reluctantly returned the guns to his son sometime before the shooting when Reinking requested him to do so. [22]

According to a spokesman for the Nashville police, Reinking moved to the Nashville area in the autumn of 2017 and was employed as a crane and construction worker from January 2018 until April 2018. He was fired on April 3, 2018, for claiming that people, including other employees, were "after him". [22] According to police, four days before the Waffle House shooting, Reinking stole a BMW X6 [23] from a Brentwood, Tennessee, dealership; police used the vehicle's built-in GPS to track the car to Reinking's apartment complex and located the keyfob in his apartment. [9]

Arrest

Reinking left no notes behind. [24] A manhunt for him ensued, with police warning the public that he was potentially armed with two other weapons. [16] [21] The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation added him to its "most wanted" list and offered a reward for information leading to his arrest. [25] Reinking was captured the next day, about 34 hours after the shooting, after a construction worker reported him entering a wooded area close to the Waffle House. Police said Reinking was carrying a backpack with a .45-caliber Kimber 1911 handgun and ammunition. [9] [25]

Reinking was charged with four counts of criminal homicide, four counts of attempted homicide, and one count of having a firearm while committing a dangerous felony. [26] Forensic psychologists who examined Reinking determined that he suffered from severe schizophrenia, and in August 2018 a judge found Reinking incompetent to stand trial and ordered him committed to a mental hospital for treatment. [10] However, in October 2018 he was found competent to stand trial again. [27] In a January 2020 court appearance, prosecutors announced that they would not seek the death penalty against Reinking. He then faced up to life without parole. [28]

The trial was scheduled for early 2022. The shooter pled not guilty to 16 counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon. On the day of the trial, the shooter changed his plea from not guilty to not guilty by reason of insanity. [29]

The trial started with jury selection on January 25, 2022. The opening arguments were heard on January 31. Reinking was found guilty on all counts on February 4, 2022, including four counts of premeditated first degree murder. The defense was unsuccessful on their plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. The jury deliberated for nearly five hours before delivering the verdicts. [30] [31] The following day, Reinking was sentenced to life in prison without parole. [32]

Jeffrey Reinking was later charged with "unlawful delivery of a firearm" for returning the weapons to his son. [33] He was found guilty in May 2022, and sentenced to 18 months in prison. [34]

Aftermath

Shortly after the shooting, Nashville Mayor David Briley said, "It's a tragic day for our city anytime people lose their lives at the hands of a gunman." [35] Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam said he was "deeply saddened by the tragic incident in Antioch early this morning, and we mourn the lives taken in this senseless act of violence". [13] Congressman Jim Cooper called for restricting "widespread civilian access to military-grade assault weapons". [35] [36]

Mayor Briley attended church with Shaw on April 22. [14]

By May 7, Shaw had raised $227,000 via GoFundMe for a fund to help the shooting victims. That day, Tennessee State University, Shaw's Alma Mater, set up a scholarship in his name. [37] [38]

The families of two victims filed civil actions against Travis Reinking and his family. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clay Travis</span> American sports journalist

Richard Clay Travis is an American writer, lawyer, radio host and television analyst, and founder of OutKick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom</span> 2007 carjacking, rape, and murder of a couple in Knoxville, Tennessee

Channon Gail Christian, aged 21, and Hugh Christopher Newsom Jr., aged 23, were from Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. They were kidnapped on the evening of January 6, 2007, when Christian's vehicle was carjacked. The couple were taken to a rental house. Both of them were raped, tortured, and murdered. Four males and one female were arrested, charged, and convicted in the case. In 2007, a grand jury indicted Letalvis Darnell Cobbins, Lemaricus Devall Davidson, George Geovonni Thomas, and Vanessa Lynn Coleman on counts of kidnapping, robbery, rape, and murder. Also in 2007, Eric DeWayne Boyd was indicted by a federal grand jury of being an accessory to a carjacking, resulting in serious bodily injury to another person and misprision of a felony. In 2018, Boyd was indicted on state-level charges of kidnapping, robbery, rape, and murder.

In law enforcement, a manhunt is an extensive and thorough search for a wanted and dangerous fugitive involving the use of police units, technology, and help from the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Mendenhall</span> American serial killer

Bruce D. Mendenhall is a convicted American murderer and serial killer. He was arrested in Tennessee in July 2007 and found guilty in 2010 of the June 26, 2007 murder of Sara Hulbert, whose body was found by the security guard on duty that night. A long haul trucker, Mendenhall's truck was found to contain the blood of numerous other murdered or missing women. He has been charged with the murders of three other women at truck stops in Alabama, Indiana and Tennessee. He is still under investigation for murders in Georgia, Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Dennis Reid</span> American serial killer

Paul Dennis Reid Jr., known as The Fast Food Killer, was an American serial killer, convicted and sentenced to death for seven murders during three fast-food restaurant robberies in Metropolitan Nashville, Tennessee and Clarksville, Tennessee between the months of February and April 1997. At the time of the murders, Reid lived with roommate Brian Fozzard at a boarding house, and he was on parole from a 1983 conviction in Texas on charges relating to the aggravated armed robbery of a Houston steakhouse. He had served seven years of a 20-year sentence, and was paroled in 1990. Originally from Richland Hills, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth, Reid went to Nashville to pursue a career as a country music singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Rock recruiting office shooting</span>

The 2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting took place on June 1, 2009, when Carlos Leon Bledsoe opened fire with a rifle in a drive-by shooting on soldiers in front of a United States military recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas. He killed Private William Long and wounded Private Quinton Ezeagwula.

Morgan County Correctional Complex (MCCX) is a maximum security prison in unincorporated Morgan County, near Wartburg, Tennessee, operated by the Tennessee Department of Correction. It opened in 1980. An expansion completed in 2009 increased its capacity to 2,500 prisoners. The prison is accredited by the American Correctional Association. The current warden is Mike Parris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Frein</span> American fugitive on death row

Eric Matthew Frein is an American domestic terrorist and murderer, convicted and sentenced to death for the 2014 Pennsylvania State Police barracks attack in which he shot and killed one State Trooper, and seriously injured another. A letter to his parents made it clear that he hoped to spark a revolution by his actions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shooting of Daniel Shaver</span> 2016 police shooting of a man in Mesa, Arizona

On January 18, 2016, Daniel Leetin Shaver of Granbury, Texas, was fatally shot by police officer Philip Brailsford in the hallway of a La Quinta Inn & Suites hotel in Mesa, Arizona. Police were responding to a report that a rifle had been pointed out of the window of Shaver's hotel room.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Chattanooga school bus crash</span> School bus crash in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States

On the afternoon of November 21, 2016, a school bus in Chattanooga, Tennessee rolled over onto its passenger side and became wrapped around a tree. There were six fatalities and 23 injuries.

Jocques Clemmons, a 31-year-old, was fatally shot on February 10, 2017, in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, after a traffic stop where Clemmons pulled out a gun, leading to a confrontation with Joshua Lippert, a 32-year-old police officer. After an investigation, the Davidson County District Attorney declined to prosecute Lippert on any charges, a decision that was protested by several groups. After reviews at several levels of the Nashville Police and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's work and reports, the U.S. Department of Justice closed the case in August 2017.

A mass shooting occurred on September 24, 2017, when a gunman opened fire at the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch, Tennessee, part of the Greater Nashville area, killing one person and injuring six others.

The Vanderbilt rape case is a criminal case of sexual assault that occurred on June 23, 2013, in Nashville, Tennessee, in which four Vanderbilt University football players carried an unconscious 21-year-old female student into a dorm room, gang-raped and sodomized her, photographed and videotaped her, and one urinated on her face.

James Shaw Jr. is an American electrical technician. Shaw is known for disarming a gunman armed with a Bushmaster XM-15 during the 2018 Nashville Waffle House shooting in Antioch, Tennessee, potentially saving lives as a result.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Nashville mayoral election</span>

The 2019 Nashville mayoral election took place on August 1, 2019, to elect the mayor of Nashville, Tennessee. Incumbent Democratic Mayor David Briley, who succeeded Megan Barry following her resignation and won a special election to fill the remainder of her term, ran for re-election. In the August election, Briley came in second behind city councilman John Cooper; however, no candidate took more than 50 percent of the vote, forcing a runoff between Cooper and Briley on September 12, 2019. Cooper won the runoff definitively with 69 percent of the vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Ahmaud Arbery</span> 2020 murder in Georgia, United States

On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, was murdered during a racially motivated hate crime while jogging in Satilla Shores, a neighborhood near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia. Three white men, who later claimed to police that they assumed he was a burglar, pursued Arbery in their trucks for several minutes, using the vehicles to block his path as he tried to run away. Two of the men, Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory McMichael, were armed in one vehicle. Their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, was in another vehicle. After overtaking Arbery, Travis exited his truck, pointing his weapon at Arbery. Arbery approached Travis and a physical altercation ensued, resulting in Travis fatally shooting Arbery. Bryan recorded this confrontation and Arbery's murder on his cell phone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Boulder shooting</span> Mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado

On March 22, 2021, a mass shooting occurred at a King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Ten people were killed, including a local on-duty police officer. The shooter, 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Al-Issa, was arrested after being shot in the right leg. He was temporarily hospitalized before being moved to the county jail. After undergoing mental evaluations during the legal proceedings, Al-Issa was found mentally incompetent to stand trial in December 2021 and in April 2022. On August 23, 2023, prosecutors announced that Al-Issa was mentally competent to stand trial; a judge ruled as such on October 6 of that same year. On September 23, 2024, Al-Issa was found guilty in the shooting and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Todd Sutton</span> Executed American serial killer

Nicholas Todd Sutton was an American serial killer who was responsible for murdering two acquaintances and his own grandmother in North Carolina and Tennessee from August to December 1979. Convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for these crimes, Sutton, among three others, later participated in a 1985 prison killing over drugs. For this final crime, he was sentenced to death and executed in 2020 by electric chair. Sutton is the most recent person to be executed in this manner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 University of Virginia shooting</span> Mass shooting in Charlottesville, Virginia

On the night of November 13, 2022, a mass shooting took place at the University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which three people were killed and two others were injured. Four of the victims, including the three who died, were members of the UVA football team. The perpetrator, 22-year-old Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., was later taken into custody and charged with three counts of second-degree murder, as well as three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony. On November 20, 2024, Jones pleaded guilty in the shooting.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mele, Christopher (April 22, 2018). "Naked Gunman Kills 4 in Nashville Waffle House Shooting, Police Say". The New York Times. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  2. 1 2 Holly Yan; Artemis Moshtaghian; Darran Simon (April 22, 2018). "Tennessee Waffle House shooting suspect may be armed, police say". CNN. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  3. ↑ Amir Vera (April 22, 2018). "Waffle House shooter was once arrested by Secret Service for trespassing near White House". CNN. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
  4. 1 2 Kalhan Rosenblatt; Daniella Silva (April 23, 2017). "Waffle House shooting: Suspect in killing of four taken into custody after manhunt". NBC News. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Report reveals Reinking's motive behind Waffle House shooting". April 26, 2022.
  6. ↑ Phillips, Kristine (April 22, 2018). "Suspect in Tennessee Waffle House shooting still at large and possibly armed, police say". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  7. ↑ Frisk, Adam (April 23, 2018). "Waffle House shooting: What we know about Travis Reinking, the Nashville shooting suspect subject of massive manhunt". Global News. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  8. 1 2 Blinder, Alan (April 23, 2018). "Waffle House Shooting: Police Say Suspect Is in Custody". The New York Times. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 Phillips, Kristine; Berman, Mark (April 23, 2018). "Waffle House shooting suspect Travis Reinking arrested, police say". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  10. 1 2 3 Tamburin, Adam (August 22, 2018). "Travis Reinking, Waffle House shooting suspect, committed for treatment for schizophrenia". The Tennessean. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  11. ↑ Metzl, Jonathan M. (January 30, 2024). What We've Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN   978-1324050254.
  12. 1 2 Phillips, Kristine (April 23, 2018). "Suspect in Tennessee Waffle House shooting had guns seized after arrest near White House last year". Chicago Tribune. The Washington Post. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  13. 1 2 "Nashville Waffle House shooting: four dead after gunman flees in nude". The Guardian. April 23, 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  14. 1 2 Gonzales, Jason (April 22, 2018). "The 29-year-old hero from Waffle House shooting: 'I saw the opportunity and I took it'". The Tennessean. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  15. ↑ Yan, Holly; Moshtaghian, Artemis; Simon, Darran (April 22, 2018). "4 killed at Tennessee Waffle House as police search for seminude suspect". CNN.
  16. 1 2 3 Bey, Justin (April 22, 2018). "Waffle House shooting leaves 4 dead, several wounded in Tennessee". CBC News.
  17. ↑ Timms, Natalie Neysa Alund and Mariah. "Waffle House trial day 1: Opening statements, first witnesses called in Travis Reinking's murder case". The Tennessean. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  18. 1 2 Grinberg, Emanuella (April 23, 2018). "The Waffle House shooting suspect thought Taylor Swift was stalking him and showed other signs of delusion". CNN. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
  19. 1 2 Vera, Amir (April 22, 2018). "Waffle House shooter was once arrested by Secret Service for trespassing near White House". CNN.
  20. ↑ Bidgood, Jess (April 23, 2018). "Nashville Suspect Once Called Himself a 'Sovereign Citizen,' Police Say. What Is That?". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  21. 1 2 Phillips, Kristine (April 22, 2018). "Manhunt underway after shooter wielding rifle kills four at Tenn. Waffle House, police say". The Washington Post.
  22. 1 2 3 4 Boucher, Dave (April 22, 2018). "Waffle House shooting: Suspect Travis Reinking previously arrested outside White House". USA Today. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  23. ↑ Majoica, Adrian (April 24, 2018). "Tennessee Waffle House shooter believed to have stolen BMW from dealer days before". WTVC. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  24. ↑ Mojica, Adrian (April 22, 2018). "Tennessee Waffle House hero speaks, shooter could still be armed". WWMT. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  25. 1 2 "Wanted: Travis J. Reinking, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation" (PDF). April 22, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 22, 2018.
  26. ↑ Tamburin, Adam (April 24, 2018). "Waffle House shooting suspect Travis Reinking's $2 million bond revoked; new charges added". The Tennessean. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  27. ↑ Tamburin, Adam (January 8, 2020). "Prosecutors won't seek death penalty for Waffle House shooting suspect Travis Reinking". The Tennessean .
  28. ↑ Lowrey, Lauren (January 15, 2020). "Waffle House shooting survivor reacts to DA's decision of 'life in prison'". wbir.com. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  29. ↑ Loller, Travis (January 31, 2022). "Attorney: Waffle House shooter believed God commanded him". AP NEWS. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  30. ↑ Loller, Travis (February 4, 2022). "Waffle House shooter found guilty on 4 counts of murder". AP NEWS. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  31. ↑ Timms, Mariah (February 4, 2022). "Waffle House shooting trial: Travis Reinking guilty on all counts". The Tennessean. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  32. ↑ Mattise, Jonathan (February 6, 2022). "Waffle House shooter receives life in prison without parole". Associated Press. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  33. ↑ Tamburin, Adam (March 14, 2019). "Father of Waffle House shooting suspect Travis Reinking charged with gun crime". Tennessean. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  34. ↑ "Illinois man convicted of giving son rifle he used to kill 4 at a Waffle House in Tennessee". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. May 19, 2022. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  35. 1 2 Rodgers, D. Patrick (April 22, 2018). "Four Killed and Two Wounded in Shooting at Antioch Waffle House". Nashville Scene. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  36. ↑ "Congressman calls for gun control in wake of Waffle House shooting". CBS News. April 22, 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  37. ↑ Stevens, Matt (May 7, 2018). "Man Who Wrested Rifle From Waffle House Gunman Raises $227,000 for Victims". The New York Times. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  38. ↑ Nadia Judith Enchassi (April 30, 2018). "Waffle House shooting hero James Shaw Jr. raises more than $200K for victims". KFOR. CNN Wire. Archived from the original on May 14, 2018. Retrieved May 13, 2018. ...The GoFundMe campaign, by Thursday afternoon, had raked in just under $165,000 – 11 times its goal – since the attack last Sunday left four people dead. That number is now over $212,000....
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.