Suspected Waffle House gunman arrested in Nashville

A man suspected of killing four people at a Waffle House in Tennessee, America, has been arrested by police in Nashville.

“Murder suspect Travis Reinking is in custody. Arrested moments ago,” the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department tweeted on Monday afternoon.

He was caught on Monday afternoon after a tip from a member of the public led investigators to a construction site, where workers said a person had entered the woods.

Nashville’s police lieutenant Carlos Lara said the man laid down on the ground when ordered to and was handcuffed. When police then cut a backpack from his back and looked inside they found a semi-automatic handgun, Lara said.

Police said Travis Reinking, 29, was caught in a wooded area. He allegedly opened fire at the restaurant on Sunday with an AR-15 rifle, before removing his coat and fleeing naked.

A customer, James Shaw Jr, prevented further bloodshed by wresting the rifle out of the suspect's hands. Shaw, who snatched the assault rifle from the suspect after he opened fire, is being hailed as a hero.

At a press conference on Sunday, Shaw Jr said he had heard gunshots and glass smashing as people ran for cover. He then hid in the restaurant's toilet area but the gunman shot through the door, injuring his arm.

"It was at that time that I kind of made up my mind - because there's no way to lock that door - that if it was going to come down to it he was gonna have to work to kill me," he said.

"I hit him with the door and the gun was kind of jammed up," he said. "I grabbed it from him and I threw it over the countertop."

Investigators have not established any motive for the shooting. "We don't know why he went into the Waffle House," spokesman Don Aaron told reporters.

Reinking was already known to the authorities after various encounters over the past two years. Police reports show he had suffered delusions that people, including singer Taylor Swift, were following him.

Last year he was arrested after entering a restricted area near the White House. He surrendered his firearms to the police at the time, but they were passed to his father for safekeeping, and made their way back into his hands.