Run. Hide. Fight.
In the early hours of April 22nd, 2018, twenty-nine-year-old Travis Jeffrey Reinking pulled into the parking lot of a Waffle House in the Antioch neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee.
Sitting in his pickup truck, Travis spent the next four minutes contemplating what he was about to do.
He was completely naked apart from a thin, green jacket which covered his torso, and resting on the back seat of his truck – was a fully loaded, semi-automatic rifle.
Travis was born in Morton, Illinois on February 1st of 1989.
He had a history of erratic conduct, paranoia and delusions, and was particularly obsessed with the globally renowned singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift.
He once told coworkers that Swift had accepted his marriage proposal.
But when confronted on the date of his supposed matrimony, Travis announced the engagement had been cancelled after he realized he was gay, and that he and Swift were ‘never, ever, ever - getting back together’.
In May of 2016, sheriff's deputies in Tazewell County responded to a call from Reinking's parents in the parking lot of a drugstore.
Upon their arrival, paramedics saw Travis was suffering some kind of mental breakdown, and heard him claim that Taylor Swift was “hacking” his phone, as well as stalking him.
A subsequent written report stated - “Travis is hostile toward police and does not recognize police authority. Travis also possesses several firearms”.
Later, in 2017, Travis was living in an apartment above his father's crane rental business in Tremont, Illinois.
He was briefly employed as a crane operator for another company, but quit his job in March 2017 because he believed police were following him, and that his last chance to marry Taylor was swiftly approaching.
In June of that same year, an employee of his father's business called the police, saying Travis had walked downstairs carrying a rifle and wearing a pink dress.
He then tossed the rifle in his trunk, cursing loudly as he did so, before departing the building.
On another occasion, the director of a public swimming pool called the police to report Travis had arrived wearing, and I quote, a “pink women's housecoat”.
When asked to leave, Travis reportedly exposed himself to lifeguards and members of the public alike, but fled the scene before he could be apprehended by attending police officers.
Just over a month later, Secret Service agents arrested Travis near the White House, after he crossed a barrier and refused to leave.
The Secret Service said Reinking had said he “wanted to set up a meeting with the president”, and that he mentioned being a “sovereign citizen”.
Travis was subsequently charged with the misdemeanor of “unlawful entry”, and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement.
He agreed to perform thirty-two hours of community service, and agreed to stay away from the White House on the pain of much more serious charges.
By November of 2017, Travis had successfully completed the program, meaning his case was dismissed entirely.
But his conviction meant authorities in Illinois were entitled to revoke his state firearms authorization.
Police then confiscated two bolt-action hunting rifles, four semi-automatic long guns, and a single handgun.
However, after being approached by Travis’s father, Jeff Reinking, who promised to keep the weapons secure and away from his son, the firearms were returned.
Travis was once again employed as a crane operator from January until April of 2018, and used his wages to relocate to Davidson County, Tennessee.
However, on April 3rd, he was fired after claiming that his fellow employees were, and I quote, “after him”.
It’s not clear what Travis did over the next two weeks or so, but on April 18th, he stole a brand-new BMW X6 from a dealership in Brentwood, but was swiftly apprehended by the police after they tracked the car’s location using its built-in GPS system.
Again, it’s not clear what Travis did in the days between his arrest for car theft, and his arrival at the Antioch Waffle House.
But after those long, four minutes spent contemplating his future – Travis grabbed the rifle, stepped out of his truck, and began walking towards the restaurant.
Inside the Waffle House, two close friends named James Shaw and BJ McMurry were enjoying their food.
James had been an electrical technician since the age of eighteen, stating that:
“I've been destroying stuff and putting it back together since I was a little kid. I would take stuff apart and just hope I could reassemble it”.
After graduating from Tennessee State University, James began working for AT&T, installing internet, television, and phone connections in homes and apartments across Tennessee.
James and BJ had been sat in the booth for around twenty-five minutes, when suddenly, both heard a loud pop, before a nearby window suddenly shattered.
“I knew straight away that they were gunshots”, James later said, “so me and BJ rushed towards the bathrooms to take cover”.
Yet it also occurred to him that, if he hid in the bathroom, he’d be cornered, and almost completely defenseless.
It was then that James remembered the simple, three-word instruction that had recently been given to people caught up in such a senselessly violent incident.
Run. Hide. Fight.
James positioned himself behind the counter, out of sight of the restaurant floor, just as a heavily armed Travis walked through the doors of the Waffle House.
He fired two more shots at cowering innocents, killing one, and seriously injuring another; but following that second shot, Travis’s weapon suddenly jammed.
Sensing the opportunity to strike, James launched himself over the counter, and lunged for Travis’s rifle.
As his hand found the weapon’s barrel, searing pain shot up James’s arm, as the heated rifle barrel inflicted second degree burns to the skin of his palm.
But at that moment, and thanks to the huge amount of adrenaline coursing through his veins, James could barely feel any discomfort whatsoever.
All he was focused on – was neutralizing the threat.
Travis had been completely and utterly surprised by James’s decisive and valiant actions, and failed to prevent him from wrestling the rifle from his grip.
James then tossed the rifle over the counter, out of Travis’s reach, then began furiously beating him.
Travis discarded his jacket, the only item of clothing he was wearing, during the ensuing fracas, then fled the Waffle House on foot.
The subsequent manhunt lasted just under thirty-four hours, but eventually, Travis was tracked down to some woods not far from the Waffle House, where he was cornered, then arrested following his eventual surrender.
Shortly after news of the shooting hit the airwaves, Nashville Mayor David Briley was quoted as saying - “It's a tragic day for our city anytime people lose their lives at the hands of a gunman”.
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam added that he was “deeply saddened by the tragic incident in Antioch early this morning, and we mourn the lives taken in this senseless act of violence”.
Prior to his trial, Travis was charged with four counts of criminal homicide, four counts of attempted homicide, and one count of having a firearm while committing a dangerous felony.
Following an intense psychiatric examination, forensic psychologists declared that Travis was suffering from severe schizophrenia, leading a judge to categorize him as unfit to stand trial.
Travis was then committed to a mental hospital for treatment, but just over a month later, it was determined that psychologists had grossly overestimated the extent of Travis’s mental illness; and that essence, Travis had played up the worst of his symptoms in order to court their sympathies.
He was declared fit to stand trial, but in January of 2020, prosecutors announced that they would not seek the death penalty against Travis, and would instead seek a sentence of ‘life without parole’.
Travis pleaded ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ to sixteen counts of murder and assault, but was found guilty on all counts at his trial’s conclusion.
Then the following day, the judge sentenced him to life imprisonment, without the possibility of parole.
Travis’s father, Jeffrey Reinking, was later charged with "unlawful delivery of a firearm" for returning the weapons to his son.
He was eventually found guilty in May of 2022, and sentenced to a year and a half in prison.
The attack claimed four victims, Akilah DaSilva, DeEbony Groves, Joe Perez and Taurean Sanderlin.
But all agreed that, if it wasn’t for James Shaw’s courageous actions, many more people would’ve lost their lives.
James later established a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the families of the four victims, with donations surpassing $200,000 by May of 2018.
While he has been described as a hero by numerous people, including Tennessee authorities, James has stated that he does not think of himself in those terms:
“I did that completely out of a selfish act” he said, “I was completely doing it just to save myself. Now, in me doing that, I recognize that I saved other people. But it was never my intention. I never set out to be a hero. I’m just a regular guy, who happened to be in the right place, at the right time”.
The following month, at the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards, the late Chadwick Boseman won an award for “Best Hero" for his work in Black Panther.
However, during his acceptance speech, Boseman brought James Shaw to the stage, and instead presented him with the award for Best Hero.
Boseman then stated that “Receiving an award for playing a superhero is amazing, but it's even greater to acknowledge the heroes that we have in real life”.