Tazewell County prosecutor reviewing father's transfer of gun to son in restaurant shooting | Local Crime & Courts | pantagraph.com
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PEKIN — Beyond the potential legal consequences facing a former Morton man charged in the weekend shooting at a Tennessee restaurant is the question of whether his father may be liable for returning to his son the AR-15 allegedly used to kill four people.
A manhunt ended Monday with the arrest of Travis Reinking, 29, who is accused in the shooting that left two others injured Sunday at a Waffle House near Nashville.
Tazewell County Sheriff Bob Huston said his deputies took four weapons and ammunition from Travis Reinking in 2017 after the Illinois State Police revoked Reinking’s Firearms Owners’ Identification (FOID) card. The revocation followed Travis Reinking’s July 2017 arrest in a restricted area near the White House.
The guns were turned over to Reinking’s father, Jeffrey Reinking, who agreed to keep them from his son, who has a history of mental health issues, said the sheriff.
Attempts to speak Monday to the elder Reinking by a reporter for the Peoria Journal Star were unsuccessful.
Transfers of weapons from one family member to another as a “bona fide gift” are exempt from a requirement under Illinois law that the owner first verify with state police that the recipient of the gun has a valid FOID card.
More information is required before a decision on whether to charge Jeffrey Reinking is made, Tazewell County State’s Attorney Stuart Umholtz said Monday in an email to The Pantagraph.
“At this point, our office does not possess enough information to determine if Jeffrey Reinking committed a criminal offense. When our office receives information from the criminal investigation, particularly from the FBI, we will be in a position to determine if any violation occurred,” Umholtz said.
Alleged Waffle House shooter well known to Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office | State-and-regional | pantagraph.com
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Police reports and the recollections of a former acquaintance paint a disturbing picture of Travis Reinking, the Morton man accused of killing four people and wounding two others early Sunday at a restaurant near Nashville, Tenn.
“The police reports speak for themselves. I think anyone can conclude after reading them that there’s evidence (Reinking) has mental health issues,” said Tazewell County Sheriff Bob Huston.
Huston distributed reports at a Sunday news conference that detail Reinking’s dealings with police the past several years.
They include a May 26, 2016, incident in the parking lot of a CVS in Morton, where Reinking believed singer Taylor Swift was hacking his cellphone and stalking him. His family had told Tazewell County deputies that he'd been having delusions for almost two years.Deputies and a member of the Tazewell County Emergency Response Services division convinced him to be evaluated at UnityPoint Health Methodist, which handles many mental health issues.
Deputies were told Reinking’s family was concerned about him because Reinking had talked about killing himself. Reinking agreed not to drive away from the CVS parking lot so he could be taken to a hospital for an evaluation, but said it was against his will.
Reinking also told deputies a few weeks earlier that Swift hacked his Netflix account and told him to meet her at the Dairy Queen in downtown Morton.
When he arrived, Reinking said Swift was across the street yelling at him and ran away. Reinking said Swift went to the rooftop of a building and he followed her there, but when he got there, she was gone.
A report from last August indicated that Reinking thought as many as 20 to 30 people were tapping into his cellphone because he could hear them through his speakers.
One of the most recent incidents was Aug. 11, 2017, when Reinking got out of his car and spoke with a Tazewell sheriff’s deputy at Illinois and Baer Road in rural Tremont.
Reinking told the deputy 20 to 30 people were hacking into his phone and computer, and he’d been hearing people outside his home barking like dogs.
He also said he was being watched and people were baiting him into breaking the law.
Thirteen days later, deputies took Reinking’s four weapons and ammunition away from him because his Illinois Firearms Owners’ Identification Card had been revoked by the Illinois State Police following Reinking’s arrest by U.S. Secret Service agents in July 2017 for being in a restricted area near the White House.
According to The Associated Press, Reinking told agents he was at the White House because he wanted to meet President Donald Trump.
On June 16, 2017, Tremont police were called to the Tremont Pool after a man identified as Reinking dove into the pool wearing a pink woman’s house coat, took off the coat and was swimming in his underwear.
Lifeguards told Reinking to get out of the pool. He yelled at the lifeguards, got out of the pool, and displayed his genitals to show lifeguards he’s a man.
Pool employees declined to press charges.
An employee at J&J Cranes in Tremont, where Reinking lived in an apartment above the business, told police Reinking left the business just before the pool incident wearing a pink women’s house coat after putting an AR-15 rifle into the trunk of his car.
Pool employees did not see Reinking with the weapon.
Deputies were told Reinking’s family was concerned about him because Reinking had talked about killing himself. Reinking agreed not to drive away from the CVS parking lot so he could be taken to a hospital for an evaluation, but said it was against his will.
A 27-year-old Morton resident who asked to remain anonymous has a chilling recollection of Reinking from more than five years ago.
He recalls Reinking pointing an assault rifle at a group of about a half-dozen friends who had gathered for a night of video games at a home near a Morton mobile home park where Reinking was residing with a roommate.
“I think (Reinking) brought the gun out to show it to us. He leveled it at our heads, then he put it away,” the Morton resident said. “I didn’t feel threatened, but I was unnerved.”
He said he did not call police about the incident.
“I hadn’t thought that night until (Sunday), when I learned about the shooting in Nashville. I haven’t seen or spokes to Travis for at least five years.”
The Morton resident said he recalls Reinking had anger issues. “He’d get angry or frustrated easily,” he said.
Morton Police Chief Craig Hilliard said his office fielded several complaints about Reinking’s driving, but otherwise heard no serious allegations about him.