Nashville Police Release Names of Waffle House Shooting Victims

The Nashville police have released the names of three out of four of the victims killed in Sunday [...]

By Michael Hein

The Nashville police have released the names of three out of four of the victims killed in Sunday morning's shooting at a Waffle House restaurant.

The names were published by The Tennessean. There was one more casualty whose name has not been released by the police yet, as they are reportedly still working to contact her family. However, they did confirm that she was a 21-year-old woman from Gallatin.

Taurean C. Sanderlin, 29, was an employee of the Waffle House where the shooting took place. He was reportedly shot and fatally wounded while standing outside of the restaurant. Joe R. Perez, 20, was a Nashville native. He was a patron at the restaurant, also standing outside when the shooter arrived.

Finally, the third victim identified was Akilah Dasilva, 23, from Antioch, Tennessee. She was wounded by gunfire in the restaurant, and passed away later at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

There are still two more victims undergoing treatment at the hospital. They have been identified as Shanita Waggoner, 211 and Sharita Henderson, 24.

Police are still searching for the suspect, Travis Reinking. The 29-year-old reportedly drove to the restaurant at about 3:25 a.m. on Sunday morning. He began firing into the Waffle House from the parking lot, injuring some as glass shards flew through the air.

Police have also confirmed that Reinking's weapon, which he dropped as he fled, was an AR-15 assault-style rifle. Nashville Mayor David Briley addressed the shooting both in a news conference on Sunday afternoon and in a statement on Twitter. He did not mince words as he called for changes to the city's gun laws.

"Everyone wants to live in a safe environment," Briley began. "It is my responsibility as the mayor of Nashville to make that happen. Clearly the victims deserve our prayers and thoughts, but they also deserve leaders that will step up and take action and do something to get these weapons off our street."

"Tragedies like today should not happen," Briley went on on Twitter. "This is our second mass shooting in 7 months. We need comprehensive gun reform. If we all come together on this for the greater good, we can take weapons of war off the street."

Mayor Briley wasn't the only one calling for laws to prevent future tragedies. Some of the survivors of the Parkland, Florida school shooting spoke out about the shooting, calling for change.

As of 2 p.m. CT on Sunday, Reinking was still at large.

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