Suspect in naked gunman shooting arrested in Tennessee

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A man suspected of shooting and killing four people at a Waffle House restaurant in the southern US state of Tennessee over the weekend, and then fleeing naked, was arrested on Monday after a 36-hour manhunt.

Photos posted online by Nashville police showed Travis Reinking, a 29-year-old construction worker, in custody.

He was suspected of opening fire with an assault rifle at the restaurant early Sunday then fleeing the scene naked.

Waffle House witnessed four people killed and two wounded after a gunman opened fire with an assault weapon, April 22, 2018, in Nashville, Tennessee. /VCG Photo

Photographed in the back of a police car after his arrest, he looked disheveled and was wearing a torn red shirt and dirty blue jeans.

No motive was known for the attack.

More than 150 city, state and local law enforcement agents searched for the gunman, who has had a history of bizarre behavior, delusions and multiple encounters with authorities, including an episode in Washington, DC in July 2017 when he was arrested for trying to get into the White House, according to police records.

Tips from people in the neighborhood helped lead police to search through the woods about three kilometers from the restaurant using sniffer dogs on the ground and aircraft overhead.

Local police inspect the scene of a fatal shooting at Waffle House near Nashville, Tennessee, US, April 22, 2018. /VCG Photo

Metropolitan Nashville Police Lieutenant Carlos Lara said as soon as a detective saw Reinking and ordered him to get on the ground, the suspect cooperated.

"He did not try to run," Lara told a news conference.

Reinking, who had a pistol and ammunition in his backpack when he was arrested, is accused of shooting two people to death outside the restaurant around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, and killing two inside. The suspect fled after a 29-year-old diner, James Shaw Jr., wrestled the rifle from him.

In addition to the four deaths, two people were injured in the attack, which sent shudders through one of the biggest cities in the US South.

The killings in Tennessee were the latest in a string of high-profile US mass shootings, including one on February 14, in which a former student killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

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Source(s): Reuters