Man on the Run After Killing Four at a Nashville Waffle House

By Associated Press | Published on April 22, 2018

This photo provided by Metro Nashville Police Department shows Travis Reinking, who police are searching for in connection with a fatal shooting at a Waffle House restaurant in the Antioch neighborhood of Nashville early Sunday, April 22, 2018. (Metro Nashville Police Department via AP)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Four people were killed in a shooting at a Waffle House restaurant in Tennessee early Sunday, according to police, who credited a bystander with saving many lives by wresting a weapon away from the gunman.

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said via their Twitter account that authorities are searching for 29-year-old Travis Reinking of Morton, Illinois. They said they named him as a person of interest because the pickup truck that the gunman used to drive to the restaurant was registered to him.

Police spokesman Don Aaron said three people died at the scene and one person died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Aaron said the gunman arrived at the restaurant and sat in the parking lot for four minutes and shot two people with an assault rifle, then went inside and continued firing.

A 29-year-old male patron inside the restaurant wrested the rifle away from the suspect and tossed it over a counter, Aaron said.

“No doubt he saved many lives by wresting the gun away and tossing it over the counter and prompting the man to leave,” Aaron said. At least four people were injured.

A Waffle House spokesman didn’t immediately return a telephone message seeking comment. Aaron said the victims’ names weren’t immediately released.

The suspect, wearing only a green jacket, shed the jacket after fleeing the restaurant. Aaron said he lived at an apartment complex in the area and, based on witness reports, went to the complex and put on a pair of pants.

Aaron said witnesses saw a man in a nearby wooded area, and police dogs were tracking the man, some six hours after the 3:25 a.m. shooting.

Subscribe To The ABS Newsletter — Get our stories in your inbox.

Independent journalism still matters.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way