NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A man who fatally shot four people at a Nashville Waffle House in 2018 was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Travis Reinking, 33, was found guilty on all 16 counts against him, including four counts of first-degree murder, on Friday, The Tennessean reported. A jury deliberated for nearly five hours before reaching its verdict, and Reinking did not show any emotion as it was read, the newspaper reported.
Update 3:26 p.m. EST Feb. 5: Travis Reinking, 33, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the first-degree murder of four people inside a Nashville Waffle House on April 22, 2018.
A jury unanimously found on Saturday afternoon that Reinking should serve a life sentence for each victim with no chance of parole, WSMV-TV reported.
The decision was made after jurors heard nearly two hours of victim impact statements, according to The Associated Press.
Original report: Jurors returned to court on Saturday to determine Reinking’s sentence for the four first-degree murder convictions, WSMV-TV reported. The jury was hearing victim impact statements Saturday and will decide whether Reinking should receive a life sentence or will receive a sentence with the possibility of parole, according to The Associated Press.
Sentencing for the remaining 12 convictions will be handled by the court at a later date, the television station reported.
Prosecutors said Reinking opened fire at the Waffle House in the Antioch neighborhood of Nashville at about 3:20 a.m. CDT in the early morning hours of April 22, 2018. He was arrested the next day after a 34-hour search, The Tennessean reported.
Authorities said Reinking fired 30 rounds of ammunition, killing Taurean Sanderlin, 29; Joey Perez, 20; Akilah DaSilva, 23; and DeEbony Groves, 21, WZTV-TV reported.
>> 3 wounded in shooting outside Waffle House in northern Tennessee
Four others, James Shaw Jr., Kayla Shaw, Sharita Henderson and Shantia Waggoner, were wounded in the shooting, according to The Tennessean.
Reinking fled the restaurant after Shaw tackled him and wrestled his assault-style rifle away, according to the AP.
Reinking pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
“True justice is having my son here,” DaSilva’s mother, Shaundelle Brooks, told The Tennessean. “But unfortunately, this is what we have. This is the next, the closest to true justice.”
On Jan. 23, three people were wounded in a shooting outside a Waffle House in Clarksville, located in northern Tennessee.