By Valeria Bula
At 3:19 a.m. on Sunday, April 18, 29-year-old Travis Reinking arrived at a Waffle House establishment wearing nothing but a green jacket, and shot and killed six people with an assault rifle – two outside the restaurant, and four inside. Three individuals died at the scene, one at the hospital. The two others are being treated in Vanderbilt for gunshot wounds.
His carnage was only cut short by the heroic act of another customer who monitored the gunman’s actions and sprang into action when he saw the chance. During a brief pause in the gunfire, James Shaw Jr. jumped in and wrestled the firearm from the gunman, tossing it over the restaurant counter. Reinking then fled the scene completely naked, disappearing for 35 hours. On Monday, at around 1 p.m. a community tip revealed Reinking’s location in a wooded area near his Nashville apartment complex. He will be booked on four counts of criminal homicide after he is released from the hospital.
At the time of his arrest, Reinking did not resist when found by a detective who pulled his gun at him. Reinking was carrying a backpack that contained a firearm, ammunition, and a flashlight.
This isn’t the first time the assailant is a fugitive of the law, however, as the 29-year-old has a history of delusions and run-ins with the law. In 2016, Reinking told first responders that he thought Taylor Swift was stalking him, his family also noted his suicidal tendencies. Last summer, Reinking was also arrested by the Secret Service for trespassing the White House armed in attempt to meet the president.
To make matters worse, the FBI requested Reinking’s Illinois firearms authorization be revoked. Instead, his weapons were handed over to his father, who officials believe returned them to his son.
The attack is the most recent in a string of gun violence and massacres that have taken place in 2018 alone, demonstrating the overwhelming ease at which people, including the mentally unstable, are able to get a hold of a lethal weapon. Ironically, Reinking’s weapon of choice seems to correlate with every other mass killer’s weapon of choice: the AR-15. The attack has shown that no place in this world is safe, and that after countless marches and calls for reform, change is unfathomable.
