On April 22, 2018, a mass shooting occurred at a Waffle House restaurant in the Antioch neighborhood 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. Another two people were injured by broken glass. 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.
Due to severe schizophrenia, Reinking was initially found incompetent to stand trial and committed to a mental hospital for treatment. 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.
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 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, with four others treated for related injuries. One customer, 29-year-old James Shaw Jr., who suffered a bullet graze wound, 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.
Perpetrator
Travis Reinking was from Morton, Illinois. He had a history of erratic conduct, paranoia and delusions, and was particularly obsessed with singer Taylor Swift. At one point, he confused his coworkers by saying that he was gay while also claiming that he was going 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."
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. He also claimed that this was his "last chance" to marry Taylor Swift. 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.
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". The report notes he made reference to being a "sovereign citizen". 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.
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). 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. Reinking's father admitted later that he had returned the guns to his son sometime before the shooting.