Morton Residents Shocked At Waffle House Suspect's Arrest; Father Could Face Charges
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A judge has revoked the $2 million bond set for Travis Reinking, the Illinois man charged with killing four people at a Waffle House near Nashville, and his arrest has left people in his hometown stunned.
Travis Reinking's father also could face criminal charges, for giving him back several guns after officials revoked Reinking's Firearm Owners Identification card.
Reinking, 29, was arrested Tuesday afternoon in a wooded area not far from the Waffle House where he allegedly opened fire with a semiautomatic assault-style rifle early Sunday morning.
Authorities have said he was nearly naked, wearing only a green jacket and brandishing an assault-style rifle when he began shooting people in the parking lot of the Waffle House in Antioch, Tennessee, before dawn on Sunday. He then stormed inside the restaurant, and continued firing, before a customer grabbed his rifle and tossed it over the counter when Reinking stopped to reload.
Four people were killed, and four others were wounded in the massacre.
A resident of the small rural village of Morton, Illinois, Reinking was charged late Monday with four counts of criminal homicide and held on a $2 million bond, court records show. On Tuesday, a judge revoked that bond, prosecutors confirmed to CBS affiliate WTVF. The move came after community outcry over his original bond.
The Reinking home was quiet Monday evening, just a day after federal investigators could be seen going in and out of the house. At the town's Dairy Queen, Reinking's arrest had people talking.
"I didn't really know any of his friends, personally, but I've heard of him, and from what I heard, he was a good person, and stuff like that, and he just moved to Tennessee, and literally never knew anything besides that," said Joshua Parker.
Tazewell County incident reports painted a much different picture of Reinking, calling him "delusional," and "hostile towards police." He even once told police that singer Taylor Swift had been stalking and harassing him.
In June 2017, an employee of his father's business reported Reinking had walked out of his apartment wearing a pink dress and holding a rifle, shouting obscenities before driving away.
Around the same time, police in the nearby village of Tremont responded to a report that Reinking showed up at a public pool wearing a pink women's housecoat. According to the report, he then dove into the pool, took off the housecoat, and swam around in his underwear, before shouting at lifeguards and exposing his genitals.
Then, in July 2017, Reinking was arrested outside the White House, after the Secret Service caught him crossing security barriers in an attempt to talk to President Trump.
"I think there were a lot of signs, but I think it's a hard hard road for everybody," said Morton resident Christine Gill.
After his arrest at the White House, Reinking's FOID card was revoked, and police took away his guns and legally transferred them to his father.
His father has admitted giving the guns back to Reinking. One of them later was used to carry out the deadly rampage at the Waffle House in Tennessee.
ATF Special Agent Marcus Watson said Reinking's father might potentially face criminal charges.
"It is possible if you transfer weapons knowing it's to a person that is prohibited. So that could potentially be a violation of federal law," he said.
Watson said, because Reinking's FOID card had been revoked in Illinois, he legally should not have had access to guns in Tennessee.
The Tazewell County State's Attorney said there is not enough evidence to file charges against Reinking's father. The FBI is still building its case.
