Waffle House Victim's Family Sues Reinking's Father

TAZEWELL COUNTY, IL — The family of Joe Perez, a 20-year-old gunned down in the early morning hours of April 22 outside a Waffle House near Nashville, is now suing the father of suspected gunman Travis Reinking. The wrongful death lawsuit was filed Monday in Tazewell County, where father Jeffrey Reinking lives and runs a crane company. The suit accuses Jeffrey Reinking of negligence in returning the Bushmaster AR-15 used in the massacre — one of four weapons taken from Travis Reinking after his arrest months earlier outside the White House — to his son.

Travis Reinking, 29, a native of Morton, is accused of killing four people in a massacre that started in the Waffle House parking lot. After continuing the rampage inside the restaurant, police said Reinking was stopped by customer James Shaw Jr., who disarmed the shooter with his bare hands, suffering a gunshot graze wound and a severe burn when he grabbed the AR-15 from Reinking.

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Joe Perez was one of four people killed in the massacre. Now his family has filed a lawsuit against Jeff Reinking, who could also face federal charges for returning the guns to his son prior to the mass shooting.

The guns were to be seized by the Tazewell County Sheriff's Department after Travis Reinking's Illinois FOID card was revoked. Instead, police handed them over to his father, who, according to police reports, had agreed to store them and keep them away from his son.

The Perez family's lawsuit claims Jeff Reinking's "negligent entrustment allowed his son to be in possession of a weapon —the Bushmaster AR-15 — that he used to shoot and kill Joe Perez, Jr.," according to WKRN.

Also killed in the shooting were Taurean C. Sanderlin, 29; Akilah Dasilva, 23; and DeEbony Groves, 21.

The suit was filed in Tazewell County by Christian Perez, Joe Perez' older brother. A case management hearing in the lawsuit isn't scheduled until October, according to court records.

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Travis Reinking was well known to law enforcement in Tazewell County even before his July 2017 arrest for trespassing at the White House, where he reportedly demanded a meeting with President Donald Trump.

A month earlier, police responded to a public pool where employees said Reinking, wearing a women's housecoat, refused to get out of the water and, when he did, showed pool staff his genitals before leaving. Earlier that day, an employee at his father's crane company told police he was also brandishing his AR-15 at work. Because no one at the pool wanted to press charges, Reinking was not arrested and a police report was not written immediately, according to police records.

In May 2016, police also encountered Reinking in a CVS parking lot after his family expressed concerns for his safety. In that incident, reports indicate he told police he had proof singer Taylor Swift was stalking and harassing him, saying he'd chased her onto the roof of a building. He was not arrested but taken into protective custody for a suicidal threat, police reports indicate.

After his July 2017 arrest at the White House, the FBI requested that his FOID card be revoked and returned to the Illinois State Police. In August 2017, Travis Reinking agreed to turn over four weapons — including the AR-15 — to police, along with all his ammunition, according to police reports.

Jeff Reinking reportedly asked deputies who had arrived to collect the weapons if he, as a valid FOID card holder, could keep them.

"All weapons and ammunition were released to Jeffrey Reinking which holds a valid FOID card," Tazewell County police reports from August 2017 note. "Jeffrey was advised that he needed to keep the weapons secure and away from Travis. Jeffrey stated he would comply. The FOID card is being sent back to (Illinois State Police). No further action is being taken."

Joe Perez was a Texas native but lived in Nashville. Family told local news station KXAN that he had moved to Tennessee just months before the shooting. His mother, Trisha Perez, told the station that Perez was seen on surveillance video walking past Reinking and opening the restaurant door for him before being shot. "(Police) told me they watched the video and that my son never had a chance," she said.

The afternoon after the shooting, Trisha Perez shared a photo of her son on Facebook, asking friends to pray for the family. "Me, my husband and sons are broken right now with this loss," she wrote. "Our lives are shattered."

Main photo via Metro Nashville Police Department