Waffle House shooter arrested, charged with quadruple murder (VIDEO)

Law enforcement captured the man accused of murdering four people at a Nashville area Waffle House after a 36-hour manhunt.

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department arrested 29-year-old Travis Reinking near his apartment Monday after a tipster reported seeing a suspicious person walking into the woods. A loaded pistol was recovered from his backpack during the apprehension, according to a news release.

Reinking faces four counts of criminal homicide after opening fire at the restaurant just before 3:30 a.m. Sunday, wearing only a jacket and armed with an AR-15 and two magazines. He killed two people in the parking lot before shooting six more inside.

A customer thwarted the attack when he charged Reinking, tossing his rifle over a counter and dragging him back outside. Reinking fled and evaded police capture for more than a day afterward.

Those dead include Taurean C. Sanderlin, 29; Joe R. Perez, 20; DeEbony Groves, 21 and Akilah Dasilva, 23. Two other women — 21-year-old Shanita Waggoner and 24-year-old Sharita Henderson — were taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for gunshot wounds, according to law enforcement.

Reinking, a construction worker, moved to Nashville in the fall of 2017, just a few months after the Secret Service detained him for trespassing near the White House. Investigators in Tazewell County, Illinois subsequently revoked Reinking’s state firearms license and seized four guns, including the AR-15 used in Sunday’s attack. Reinking’s father admitted returning the guns to his son after receiving them from law enforcement.

Nashville Police Chief Steven Anderson didn’t describe a motive Sunday, but suggested the gunman may have “mental issues.” Reinking remains in custody in lieu of a $2 million bond and makes his first scheduled court appearance Wednesday.

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