Father of Waffle House shooting suspect was advised to keep guns away from son
DAVIDSON COUNTY, Tenn. -- Detectives, acting on a tip, captured suspected shooter Travis Reinking less than a mile from the Waffle House rampage. He was hiding in the woods behind his apartment complex. In his backpack, detectives found a loaded .45 caliber handgun, ammo and a flashlight.
He was formally charged late Monday with four counts of criminal homicide and held on a $2 million bond, court records show.
Around 3:30 a.m. Sunday, Reinking, naked from the waist down, allegedly killed two people with an AR-15 in the Waffle House parking lot and two more people inside before pausing to reload. Customer James Shaw saw his chance.
"I grabbed him and grabbed the gun and I started punching and doing everything I could to get the gun ajar," Shaw said.
Police say Reinking, who was then fully naked, fled to his apartment, put on pants and disappeared. The victims include a Waffle House cook and three employees, including Akilah DaSilva, an aspiring musical producer.
"It's unfair," said Abede Dasilva, Akilah's younger brother. "He's innocent. All the people in there were innocent."
In 2014, Reinking's family said he was delusional, convinced singer Taylor Swift was stalking him. Last June, he threatened someone with an AR-15, wearing a pink dress. A month later, he was arrested near the White House after demanding to see President Trump.
Illinois sheriff deputies then took away Reinking's four guns and gave them to his father. Their report states his father "was advised that he needed to keep the weapons secure and away from Travis." It goes on to say he stated "he would comply."
But Travis Reinking got his guns back. One of them, an AR-15, was used in the Waffle House rampage. CBS News asked Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Special Agent in Charge Marcus Watson if Reinking's father violated any gun laws by giving the guns back.
"It is possible," Watson said. "If you transfer weapons knowingly to a person that is prohibited. So that potentially could be a violation of federal law."
The woods where Reinking was found are right behind an apartment complex, about a mile from the Waffle House carnage. The conditions of two other shooting victims have been upgraded from critical to stable.