Nashville Shooting Suspect Still Sought04/23 06:09

   NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- As an intensive manhunt continues for the suspect 
in a Waffle House restaurant shooting that killed four people, police are 
warning residents of a Nashville neighborhood to beware of the alleged killer.

   More than 80 Nashville police officers continued to search for Travis 
Reinking early Monday, authorities said. Agents with the FBI, the U.S. Bureau 
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and troopers with the Tennessee 
Highway Patrol were also assisting in the manhunt as disturbing reports about 
the wanted man's past behavior came to light.

   He was also added to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Top 10 Most 
Wanted list.

   Reinking was nearly naked, wearing only a green jacket and brandishing an 
assault-style rifle when he opened fire in the parking lot and then stormed the 
restaurant, police say. In addition to the four people killed, four others were 
injured. Police credit a quick-thinking customer who wrestled the gun away from 
the suspect for preventing more loss of life.

   Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson said at a news conference 
that Reinking, 29, was last seen Sunday around a wooded area near an apartment 
complex where he lived. Authorities said Reinking could be armed and weren't 
ruling out that he had left the area. He was believed to be wearing only pants 
and no shirt or shoes.

   Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson said there was no clear motive, though 
Reinking may have "mental issues." He may still be armed, Anderson told a 
mid-afternoon news conference, because he was known to have owned a handgun 
that authorities have not recovered.

   "He's on foot," Anderson said. "Unless he's been picked up by a car, he 
would be fairly close. We don't want to alarm people, but certainly, everybody 
should take precautions. It could be he's in an unoccupied house. We want 
everybody to be concerned. Neighbors should check on each other."

   Officials with the Nashville public school system say schools will go into 
"lock-out" mode if Reinking isn't found in time for class Monday. During the 
lock-out students will be free to move about the building but no guests or 
visitors will be allowed to enter the building.

   The search continued as police reports from Illinois came in that portrayed 
Reinking as a disturbed man with paranoid delusions, and one who liked firearms.

   The reports were among multiple past red flags about the suspect, who had 
just recently moved to Nashville from Morton, Illinois.

   Reinking was arrested by agents with the U.S. Secret Service back in July 
after he crossed a restricted area near the White House, officials said. He was 
detained after refusing to leave, saying he wanted to meet President Donald 
Trump.

   In May 2016, deputies from Tazewell County, Illinois, were called to a CVS 
parking lot. Reinking told officers that Taylor Swift was stalking him and 
hacking his phone, and that his family was also involved, according to a report 
released Sunday.

   It is not clear why Reinking moved to Nashville and if it had anything to do 
with being near the pop/country superstar. Police say he was employed in 
construction for a while and there would have been enough work in the booming 
city for him.

   In August, after the White House incident, Reinking told police in Tazewell 
County, Illinois, that he wanted to file a report about 20 to 30 people tapping 
into his computer and phone. He also complained that people were "barking like 
dogs" outside his residence, according to a report.

   Reinking agreed to go to a local hospital for an evaluation after repeatedly 
resisting the request, the report said.

   Another report from the sheriff's office said Reinking barged into a 
community pool in Tremont, Illinois, last June and jumped into the water 
wearing a pink woman's coat over his underwear. Investigators believed he had 
an AR-15 rifle in his car trunk, but it was never displayed. No charges were 
filed.

   Reinking was not armed when he was detained near the White House. However, 
state police in Illinois, revoked his state firearms card at the request of the 
FBI and four guns were taken from him, authorities said. The AR-15 used in the 
shootings was among the firearms seized after U.S. Secret Service agents 
arrested him last July.

   Sheriff Robert Huston in Tazewell County, Illinois, said deputies allowed 
Reinking's father to take possession of the guns on the promise that he would 
"keep the weapons secure and out of the possession of Travis." Huston added 
that, based on deputies' encounters with Reinking, "there's certainly evidence 
that there's some sort of mental health issues involved."

   While Huston said it was unclear how Reinking reclaimed the guns, Nashville 
Police spokesman Don Aaron said that his father "has now acknowledged giving 
them back."

   Phone calls to a number listed for the father, Jeffrey Reinking, went 
unanswered.

   Police recovered three of the four guns that were originally taken from 
Reinking, officials said. They believe he is armed with at least one handgun.

   Reinking, police said, drove into the Waffle House parking lot in his gold 
Chevy Silverado pickup and sat there for about four minutes before opening fire 
outside the restaurant.

   The victims fatally shot in the parking have been identified as Taurean 
Sanderlin, 29, of Goodlettsville, and Joe Perez, 20, of Nashville.

   Sanderlin was an employee at the restaurant.

   Perez's mother posted a picture of her son on Facebook and asked for 
prayers, saying it was the hardest day of her life. "Me, my husband and sons 
are broken right now with this loss," Trisha Perez said in the post. "Our lives 
are shattered."

   Reinking then went inside the restaurant and opened fire, police said.

   One of the fatally wounded inside was DeEbony Groves, a 21-year student at 
Nashville's Belmont University.

   Groves was remembered as an exceptional student who made the Dean's list and 
a tenacious basketball player.

   "She was a brilliant young lady, very, very intelligent and a very hard 
worker," Gallatin High School basketball coach Kim Kendrick told The Tennessean.

   Akilah Dasilva was also killed inside the restaurant. The 23-year-old from 
Antioch was a rap artist and music video producer who had such skills behind 
the camera that he was a favorite among many of Music City's independent 
musicians and recording labels, The Tennessean reported.

   "Music is my life and I will never stop until I achieve my dreams," Dasilva 
said on his Twitter account.

   Dasilva's mother told CBS News that her son was a student at Middle 
Tennessee State University and aspired to be a music engineer.

   He was at the restaurant with his girlfriend, 21-year-old Tia Waggoner, the 
paper reported. Waggoner was wounded and is being treated at Vanderbilt 
University Medical Center.

   Dasilva's family said she underwent surgery and doctors were trying to save 
her leg.

   Police say Sharita Henderson, 24, of Antioch, was wounded and is being 
treated at VUMC.

   Also wounded was James Shaw Jr., a 29-year-old restaurant patron, whom 
police said suffered minor wounds from wrestling the gun away Reinking.

   Shaw, who is a Nashville native who works as a wireless technician for AT&T, 
said he was no hero --- despite being hailed as one by Nashville Mayor David 
Briley.

   Shaw said he pounced on the suspect after making up his mind that "he was 
going to have to work to kill me."


(KA)