Metro police announced Monday afternoon that Travis Reinking, the suspect in a deadly shooting at an Antioch Waffle House, had been arrested.
Police announced Reinking had been arrested in a “wooded area” near Old Hickory Boulevard and Hobson Pike. Police photos from the scene showed Reinking being loaded into a car wearing a torn maroon T shirt with scratches on his exposed shoulders.
The news came after a chaotic 34-hour manhunt following a shooting at an Antioch Waffle House that killed four people and injured several others.
Mayor David Briley thanked police, the TBI and FBI for helping in the investigation.
“We are glad to know that our community will receive justice,” Briley wrote on Twitter. “The people of Antioch and all of Nashville can breathe a sigh of relief.”
BREAKING: Travis Reinking apprehended moments ago in a wooded area near Old Hickory Blvd & Hobson Pk. pic.twitter.com/00ukga37s6
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) April 23, 2018
Police and federal agents spent much of Sunday and Monday sweeping through overgrown wooded areas in Antioch, around Percy Priest Lake and in other parts of South Nashville.
Just before the announcement that Reinking, 29, was in custody, a police helicopter spotted a man going into a wooded area near Percy Priest Lake, at Mt. View Road and Smith Springs Parkway.
Officers with search dogs deployed to the area and left minutes later.
Before his capture, no one had reported seeing Reinking since Sunday morning, when he was spotted in a wooded area near his Antioch apartment complex.
Earlier in the day, investigators also revealed more details about Reinking’s behavior in the days before the Waffle House shooting.
He had stolen a car from the Brentwood BMW dealership and run from police on Tuesday, Aaron said.
Brentwood police briefly chased him through rush hour traffic, Aaron said, but he got away. Police used the car’s GPS to track it to Reinking’s apartment complex, but did not identify him as a suspect at that time.
Even as more information about the suspect emerged, Aaron said police did not know what motivated the shooting.
Search cast a pall over Antioch
Antioch had been on high alert throughout the search, with police dotting the roads and sweeping through dense pockets of overgrown brush.
Many Antioch residents hunkered down indoors, some with their curtains drawn. At a Thornton’s gas station on Bell Road, where early morning commuters typically flock for coffee and gas, there were only a few customers.
Residents peered from windows and front porches as Metro’s SWAT truck rolled through Antioch. Officers and ATF agents plodded through thick mud and dense wooded areas that are scattered through the area.
Officers cleared schools in Antioch, which were were operating on a lockout with no guests or visitors allowed to enter. Schools in other counties, including Rutherford, Cheatham and Williamson counties beefed up security protocols.
Reinking has been charged with four counts of homicide for the deaths of Taurean C. Sanderlin, 29; Joe R. Perez, 20; Deebony Groves, 21; and Akilah Dasilva, 23.
Two people injured in the shooting who remain hospitalized at Vanderbilt University Medical Center were listed in stable condition Monday morning.
Those victims — Shanita Waggoner, 21, of Nashville and Sharita Henderson, 24, of Antioch — are receiving care at the hospital and had previously been listed in critical condition.
“Brentwood police briefly chased him through rush hour traffic, Aaron said, but he got away.”
No mean feat to pull off these days.
“Many Antioch residents hunkered down indoors, some with their curtains drawn.”
CREAMPUFFS!!!
WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK GUNS ARE FOR… JUST HUNTING???
“Residents peered from windows and front porches as Metro’s SWAT truck rolled through Antioch. Officers and ATF agents plodded through thick mud and dense wooded areas that are scattered through the area.”
With zero understanding that those same jack-booted thugs will be coming for THEM soon.
Fine, upstanding, law-abiding CITIZENS.
Judging by the worn out, haggard & dazed look on his mug, I’d say he ran short of meth or meds, whichever poison of choice he was using.
Look what she made him do. His delusions go back years including Taylor Swift stalking HIM….not the other way around.