A gunman wearing nothing but a green jacket and brandishing an assault rifle stormed a Waffle House restaurant in Nashville before dawn on Sunday and shot four people to death, according to police, who credited a customer with saving lives by wresting the weapon away.
The gunman shot people in the parking lot before entering the restaurant, where he continued firing until a customer grabbed the rifle, Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron said. Four people were also wounded before the gunman fled, shedding his jacket.
Authorities said they were searching for the suspect, 29-year-old Travis Reinking, and that they were drafting murder warrants for him. Nashville police tweeted that the pickup truck the gunman drove to the restaurant was registered to Reinking.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A rifle police said was used in the shooting. Photograph: HO/AFP/Getty Images
Witness Chuck Cordero told the Tennessean newspaper he had stopped to get a cup of coffee and was outside the restaurant when the chaos unfolded around 3.25am.
“He did not say anything,” Cordero said of the gunman, who he said was “all business”.
Cordero said the man who wrested the gun from the suspect saved lives. “Had that guy had a chance to reload his weapon, there was plenty more people in that restaurant,” he said.
Police identified the man who grabbed the weapon as 29-year-old James Shaw Jr. Shaw told the Tennessean he was “just trying to get myself out. I saw the opportunity and pretty much took it”.
The newspaper reported that Shaw was grazed by a bullet, treated and released. “When I was in the ambulance to hospital I kept thinking that I’m going to wake up and it’s not going to be real,” Shaw said. “It is something out a movie. I’m OK though, but I hate that it happened.”
Aaron, the police spokesman, said three people died at the restaurant and one person died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where two others were being treated for gunshot wounds. Medical Center spokeswoman Jennifer Wetzel said one was in critical condition and the other was in critical but stable condition. TriStar Southern Hills Medical Center spokeswoman Katie Radel in Nashville said two people were treated for minor injuries and released.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Swat team and bomb squad serve a search warrant at the apartment of the suspected gunman. Photograph: Rick Musacchio/EPA
Aaron said the gunman arrived at the restaurant and waited in the parking lot for four minutes before shooting two people outside. At some point after the gunman entered, Shaw grabbed his rifle and tossed it over a counter, Aaron said. The gunman then fled and was seen walking, nude, on a road, authorities said.
Police were still searching for him amid a steady rain more than 10 hours after the shooting.
Aaron said Reinking lived near the restaurant in the working- and middle-class Antioch neighborhood of south-east Nashville, and police used yellow crime scene tape to block public access to an apartment complex about a half mile from the Waffle House. Reinking is originally from Morton, Illinois, and was known to both Illinois and federal law enforcement, Aaron said.
The victims’ names were not immediately released.
Police initially described Reinking as a person of interest, but Aaron later told reporters authorities were searching for “a gunman we fully believe to be Travis Reinking”. “I think it’s safe to say that person of interest and suspect in this matter is synonymous,” he said.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Travis Reinking. Photograph: Jose Romero/AFP/Getty Images
“This is a very sad day for the Waffle House family,” the company said in a statement on Twitter. “We ask for everyone to keep the victims and their families in their thoughts and prayers.”
The Nashville mayor, David Briley, described “a tragic day” for the city. “My heart goes out to the families & friends of every person who was killed or wounded,” Briley said in a statement. “I know all of their lives will be forever changed by this devastating crime.”
US representative Jim Cooper, a Democrat whose district includes Nashville, said in a statement the shooting showed the need for tighter restrictions on “widespread civilian access to military-grade assault weapons”.
Bill Haslam, the Tennessee governor,said he and his wife, Crissy, were “deeply saddened by the tragic incident in Antioch early this morning, and we mourn the lives taken in this senseless act of violence”.
(CNN) Nashville police are asking residents to lock their doors and stay alert after a seminude gunman killed four people at an area Waffle House early Sunday.
Police are also asking for the public's help in finding suspect 29-year-old Travis Reinking of Morton, Illinois. Authorities said the gunman arrived in a vehicle registered to Reinking, though he walked away from the restaurant, naked.
"Keep your doors locked, keep your eyes open. If you see this individual -- if you see a nude guy walking around this morning -- call the police department immediately," Metro Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron said.
BREAKING: Travis Reinking, 29, of Morton, IL, is person of interest in Waffle House shooting. Vehicle the gunman arrived in is registered to him. Gunman last seen walking south on Murfreesboro Pike. He shed is coat and is nude. See Reinking? Pls call 615-862-8600 immediately. pic.twitter.com/duoWCo5fC0 — Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) April 22, 2018
The melee started around 3:23 a.m. (4:23 a.m. ET) in Antioch, southeast of Nashville.
After sitting in the truck for a few minutes, the gunman came out wielding an "assault-type rifle" and fatally shot two people outside the Waffle House, police said.
Investigation on going at the Waffle House. Scene being processed by MNPD experts. This is the rifle used by the gunman. pic.twitter.com/lihhRImHQN — Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) April 22, 2018
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“You had a citizen step up to intervene with an active shooter and that’s what this man did,” he said. “He is the hero here and no doubt he saved many lives.”
The mayor’s office identified the customer who intervened as James Shaw Jr. In an interview with The Tennessean, Mr. Shaw said he saw an opportunity to rush the gunman. He said he was unsure if the man was reloading or his weapon had jammed.
“It really wasn’t a process of thinking,” he said. “It was more so of a now, you have to do this now or if I let him load that weapon there wasn’t going to be another window, there wasn’t going to be another chance.”
The gunman, who was naked but for a green jacket, then fled and shed the jacket as he reached a corner not far from the Waffle House. Mr. Aaron said the jacket had an unspecified amount of additional ammunition.
Federal and other law enforcement agencies were aware of Mr. Reinking “due to previous interactions,” Mr. Aaron said, but he did not elaborate.
Court records in Illinois show a series of traffic violations dating to 2005 to which Mr. Reinking mostly pleaded guilty and paid a fine.
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Mr. Aaron said it was unclear what Mr. Reinking was doing in Nashville or what had motivated him.
Three people died at the scene and one person was declared dead at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the police said.
Jennifer Wetzel, a spokeswoman for the medical center, said one wounded victim was in critical condition and another was in critical but stable condition.
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Two other victims were treated for minor injuries and discharged from TriStar Southern Hills Medical Center in Nashville, said Katie Radel, a spokeswoman there.
Mr. Aaron said some of the injured were hurt by flying glass when the front window of the restaurant was blown apart in the shooting.
“The people inside the restaurant were very, very shaken,” he said. “They were in tears.”
Waffle House said on Twitter: “This is a very sad day for the Waffle House family. We ask for everyone to keep the victims and their families in their thoughts and prayers.”
In a separate statement, the company said it had senior managers at the scene and a corporate team coming from its Atlanta offices.
The Waffle House in Antioch, like other locations in the chain, advertises itself as being open 24 hours.
Mayor David Briley of Nashville said on Twitter: “My heart goes out to the families & friends of every person who was killed or wounded in this morning’s shooting. I know all of their lives will be forever changed by this devastating crime.”
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CLOSE At least four people are dead and four others wounded after a gunman opened fire at a Waffle House in Antioch early Sunday morning
Metro Nashville Police work the scene where four people died after a gunman opened fire at a Waffle House in Antioch early Sunday, April 22, 2018. (Photo: George Walker IV / The Tennessean)
NASHVILLE — At least four people were killed and four others wounded Sunday when a gunman opened fire at a Waffle House in Tennessee until a patron wrestled the gun away, according to Metro Nashville Police.
The rampage began at about 3:25 a.m. at the Waffle House in Antioch, police said.
The suspect first fired from the parking lot, shooting two men and shattering the glass window at the front of the restaurant before going inside and continuing to pelt the restaurant with bullets, according to police.
Police spokesman Don Aaron said the patron rushed the suspected shooter, disarmed him and threw the assault rifle over the restaurant's counter.
More: A 29-year-old man saved numerous lives during Antioch Waffle House shooting, police say
The suspect fled on foot, nude, after shedding his coat, Aaron said.
James Shaw Jr., 29, the patron who disarmed the shooter, said he doesn’t feel like a hero.
“I don’t really know, when everyone said that, it feels selfish,” Shaw said. “I was just trying to get myself out. I saw the opportunity and pretty much took it.”
Shaw said he was grazed by a bullet, treated for a minor wound and released from the hospital.
Chuck Cordero, 50, had come by to grab a cup of coffee Sunday morning when he saw the suspect get out of his vehicle and open fire. He described the suspect shooting through the glass and at a man standing by the door before heading inside.
A police photograph of the gun used in a deadly Waffle House shooting on April 22. (Photo: Metro police)
"He did not say anything," Cordero said of the shooter. "He pulled up, got out of his car and was all business."
Cordero, who works at the Waffle House but was not on the clock at the time, praised the man he saw wrestle the gun away.
"He really saved some people. I'm positive he did," Cordero said. "Had that guy had a chance to reload his weapon, there was plenty more people in that restaurant."
Eight people were hospitalized after the shooting, six of them with gunshot wounds.
Travis Reinking, 29, of Morton, Ill., was initially named as a person of interest, and the vehicle the gunman arrived in is registered to him. Later, Aaron said Reinking matches the description of the gunman and was being treated as a suspect.
"If you see a nude guy walking around, call the police immediately," Aaron said. "We believe he may be the suspect in this."
A handout photo made available by the Metro Nashville Police Department reportedly shows Travis Reinking. (Photo: METRO NASHVILLE PD HANDOUT, EPA-EFE)
A man believed to be Reinking was last seen in a wood line at an apartment complex near the Waffle House. The man may have donned black pants, police said. Police do not believe the gunman is still armed but said residents in the area should lock their doors.
Nashville Mayor David Briley called it "a tragic day for our city anytime people lose their lives at the hands of a gunman."
"My heart goes out to the families and friends of every person who was killed or wounded in this morning’s shooting," Briley said in a statement. "I know all of their lives will be forever changed by this devastating crime."
"There's clearly more to be said about these circumstances, but for now I ask Nashville to pray for and rally around these victims and join me in thanking the Metro Nashville Police Department as it works to find and apprehend the shooter,” he said.
Sunday's violence took place less than two miles from the September mass shooting at an Antioch church, where one person died and nine were injured after Emanuel Samson opened fire during Sunday morning services.
BREAKING: 3 persons fatally shot & 4 others wounded at the Waffle House, 3571 Murfreesboro Pike. Gunman opened fire @ 3:25 a.m. A patron wrestled away the gunman's rifle. He was nude & fled on foot. He is a white man with short hair. pic.twitter.com/d1qxRxsGNx — Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) April 22, 2018
Contributing: Jason Gonzales
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