Four people were killed and four others were injured when a semi-nude gunman opened fire at a Waffle House restaurant near Nashville, Tennessee, early Sunday, police said. The shooter remained at large Sunday afternoon, and authorities warned that he could still be armed with two guns.
The gunman, who was naked except for a green jacket, got out of his car at around 3:23 a.m. time (4:23 a.m. ET) Sunday and shot two people outside the restaurant with an AR-15 rifle, killing them both, Don Aaron, a spokesman for Metro Nashville police, said at a news conference.
He then went inside the Waffle House and continued firing, killing another person. Authorities later confirmed that a fourth person had died at a hospital. A restaurant employee was among the dead, police said. The victims were ages 20 to 29.
Authorities identified Travis Reinking, 29, of Morton, Illinois, as a person of interest, saying the vehicle the gunman arrived in was registered to him. Later Sunday, police said they were drafting murder warrants against Reinking.
Aaron said the gunman was wearing only a green jacket — no pants, no shirt — with ammunition cartridges in it. The gunman shed the green jacket while fleeing, Aaron said.
James Shaw Jr., 29, a restaurant patron, managed to wrestle the firearm from the shooter, Aaron said.
Shaw, his hand bandaged, said at the news conference that he made up his mind to confront the gunman and "that if it was going to come down to it, he was going to have to work to kill me."
"That was my opportunity, and I went for it," he later added.
Officials said Shaw's actions saved lives.
"Thrown into crisis, he acted with courage. He told me saw an opportunity and he took it — he saved lives," Mayor David Briley said.
Aaron said federal and state authorities "have knowledge of Reinking due to previous interactions."
The Secret Service said Sunday afternoon that Reinking was arrested on July 7 and charged with unlawful entry "after crossing an exterior security barrier near the White House Complex." The Secret Service's Nashville Field Office and headquarters division were working closely with law enforcement involved in the shooting investigation, the statement added.
Reinking crossed a security barrier near some bike racks and refused to leave, Todd Hudson, the special agent in charge of the Nashville field office, said at a news conference Sunday afternoon.
"He wanted to set up a meeting with the president," he added.
After the incident, Illinois revoked Reinking's licence to carry firearms and seized four guns — including the AR-15 that was used in the Waffle House shooting — at the request of federal authorities, Aaron said at a news conference later Sunday.
But Illinois authorities then returned those firearms to Reinking's father, who Aaron said admitted giving them back to his son.
The year before, Reinking had been charged with attempted suicide by firearm, law enforcement documents show. The arrest occurred in a CVS parking lot on May 26 after Reinking told a Tazewell County sheriff’s deputy that Taylor Swift was harassing him and had hacked his Netflix account.
When the deputy and a police officer encouraged Reinking to go to a hospital for an evaluation, he refused and drove away, the documents say. Reinking later returned and continued to describe his alleged encounter with the pop star.
When Reinking tried to leave again, the documents say, authorities cited suicidal comments he'd made earlier to his family and a paramedic and placed him in protective custody.
Police said a man believed to be Reinking was last seen in woods near his apartment complex, which is not far from the scene of the shooting. They added that he had put on a pair of pants and was seen wearing black pants and no shirt or jacket.
Aaron said authorities were concerned "about evidence of two guns in that apartment that have not been located."
"There is a chance that Reinking at this moment is at large with two other weapons," he said.
Reinking moved to Nashville last fall 2017 and worked in the crane and construction trades, Aaron said. He was fired about three weeks ago from one employer and had recently started a job elsewhere. He went to work on Monday and never returned, Aaron said.
Waffle House released a statement Sunday afternoon saying it was "deeply saddened by this tragic incident."
"This is a very sad day for the Waffle House family, and we ask for everyone to keep the victims and their families in their thoughts and prayers," it said.