The 29-year-old gunman accused of killing 4 and injuring many others at a Waffle House early Sunday morning was apprehended by police after they received a tip of his whereabouts in the woods.
The suspect’s face is blurred in the image above because we do not believe in promoting identifying images and/or names of mass shooters.
Upon being arrested, he initially was given a $2 million bond, but it was quickly revoked pending a hearing on Wednesday.
The gunman used a rifle to gun down 4 and injure others, and that rifle had at one point been confiscated by police. Why were they taken, you ask?
In July of 2017 Reinking was arrested by the Secret Service for trespassing near the White House. His four firearms were turned over to his father, who police say later gave all of them back to his son, including the rifle he’s accused of using to gun down his victims.
I’m not sure how this works, but I don’t quite understand why the firearms would have been handed over to the suspect’s father. In any event, the father returned the firearms to his son, and we now know that was a bad choice.
A little more information on this topic;
At the time, Reinking lived in Morton, Illinois. After the White House arrest, Illinois revoked Reinking’s license to carry firearms and seized four guns, but Illinois authorities then returned those firearms to Reinking’s father, who Aaron said admitted giving the weapons back to his son.
Now, the father could be facing charges, as the FBI is currently deciding whether or not he committed any criminal offence.
Police say the suspect has a long history of run-ins with the law, as well as a history mental health issues. If the father was aware of this, it seems that he should have kept the firearms for himself instead of returning them to his son.
When the suspect was found by police, no resistance was met and he simply let them take him in. With him, police found a backpack with a .45 caliber handgun and some ammunition.
