Latest / NO FILTER / The Waffle House murders [True Crime documentary]

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The Waffle House murders [True Crime documentary] · NO FILTER

0:01
Speaker 1: Did you see anyone inside of that truck?
0:04
Speaker 2: Yes?
0:04
Speaker 3: I did you.
0:05
Speaker 1: Kind of looking over to your left, are you seeing
0:08
Speaker 1: the person that you saw outside the truck?
0:10
Speaker 4: In this courtroom?
0:11
Speaker 5: Has giving me the same look he did at night?
0:13
Speaker 6: And what was that look?
0:16
Speaker 3: Look like he didn't care?
0:26
Speaker 5: Hi?
0:26
Speaker 7: Everyone, I'm Kevin and this is just thought. Loud Jtail
0:30
Speaker 7: is the true crime channel that delivers serious, well balanced
0:33
Speaker 7: coverage of the cases that really make you think. The
0:36
Speaker 7: case we're looking at today centers around the events that
0:38
Speaker 7: took place over the course of only a few short
0:40
Speaker 7: minutes at a waffle house restaurant in a neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee,
0:44
Speaker 7: in twenty eighteen. In those few minutes, the lives of
0:48
Speaker 7: four people were lost, and for many more, their lives
0:51
Speaker 7: were forever changed. This is not a case that questions
0:54
Speaker 7: what took place, but rather why it did. Almost the
0:57
Speaker 7: entire incident seemed to be captured on camera, from the
1:00
Speaker 7: arrival of the gunman at the scene to the thirty
1:03
Speaker 7: four hour manhunt that followed. That the man responsible for
1:06
Speaker 7: this attack was deeply disturbed was obvious. But could someone
1:09
Speaker 7: so confused, irrational, and mentally unstable be held accountable. This
1:15
Speaker 7: is the story of Travis, Jeffrey Ranking and the waffle
1:18
Speaker 7: House murders. Let's take a look. In the early morning
1:31
Speaker 7: hours of the twenty second of April twenty eighteen, in Antioch,
1:35
Speaker 7: a suburb of Nashville, locals were winding up a late
1:38
Speaker 7: night out at the newest waffle House location on Murcurysboro Pike.
1:42
Speaker 7: It was business as usual at the restaurant, which is
1:45
Speaker 7: to say that it was quite busy at around three am.
1:48
Speaker 7: There were no obvious signs of disturbance. The unfortunate collection
1:52
Speaker 7: of individuals at the restaurant that fateful night were making
1:56
Speaker 7: their way inside by brothers Akila and a baby Da
2:01
Speaker 7: Silva with their respective girlfriends. Shantilla, who goes by Tia
2:06
Speaker 7: and Alexis, entered the restaurant sometime just past three am
2:10
Speaker 7: and took turns to standing at the counter to place
2:12
Speaker 7: their orders. The brothers were celebrating. Akila, known in the
2:16
Speaker 7: local music scene as Natrix Dream, an up and coming
2:19
Speaker 7: artist with boatloads of potential and a side gig as
2:22
Speaker 7: a music videographer, had just completed a video the day before,
2:26
Speaker 7: Talented and Intelligent. He was also attending Middle Tennessee State
2:30
Speaker 7: University for Computer Engineering. There were other college students at
2:35
Speaker 7: the restaurant that night. Sorority sisters Sharita Henderson and d
2:39
Speaker 7: Ebony Groves pulled into the parking lot at roughly a
2:42
Speaker 7: quarter past three. Once inside, the two walked past the
2:46
Speaker 7: booths towards a swinging door which led back to the restrooms,
2:50
Speaker 7: before returning and settling into the booth closest to the
2:53
Speaker 7: bar counter. They picked up their own menus, and after
2:56
Speaker 7: only a few short moments, the two could be heard
2:58
Speaker 7: singing together Jesus Loves Me while they joked, chatted and
3:03
Speaker 7: waited to order their food. Beside them, Kayla Shaw, a
3:08
Speaker 7: twenty five year old mother in town visiting, had made
3:10
Speaker 7: her way inside. Kayla was having a night out with
3:13
Speaker 7: her cousin and was sporting a pair of high heels.
3:16
Speaker 7: She had been crowned the one with the toughest feet
3:18
Speaker 7: at the end of the night, and so it was
3:19
Speaker 7: designated to collect their takeout order. Standing on her own,
3:23
Speaker 7: she watched while Akila and Tia placed their order. The
3:26
Speaker 7: couple was very cute about it. She thought. Akila knew
3:29
Speaker 7: TIA's order and placed it for her while Kayla waited patiently.
3:33
Speaker 7: Two more men made their way in behind her and
3:35
Speaker 7: to her right at the counter. She didn't really notice
3:38
Speaker 7: these two at the time. Had she known then that
3:41
Speaker 7: one of these men in only a few minutes would
3:43
Speaker 7: save her life, she would have paid more attention, she said.
3:49
Speaker 7: Brennan McMurray and James Shaw Junior had been out at
3:52
Speaker 7: a club that night. Neither one of them had been drinking,
3:54
Speaker 7: but it was late, they were hungry and their first
3:57
Speaker 7: choice for a quick bite, taco bell, was closed. Twenty
4:01
Speaker 7: year old James had worked as an electrical technician for
4:04
Speaker 7: about two years. He attended Tennessee State University. For his part,
4:09
Speaker 7: Brennan was not keen to wake up his wife so
4:11
Speaker 7: late at home if he attempted to make food, so
4:13
Speaker 7: the two found themselves at roughly three twenty am in
4:17
Speaker 7: the morning wandering into the waffle house. Brennan's white jeep
4:21
Speaker 7: and James's red Ford pickup truck were captured entering the
4:24
Speaker 7: parking lot just behind a gold colored Chevy truck, which
4:27
Speaker 7: parked just to the side of the front entrance. As
4:30
Speaker 7: the to approach the door, they caught a glimpse of
4:32
Speaker 7: the driver of the Chevy sitting inside, James could make
4:36
Speaker 7: out only a silhouette inside the cab of the truck,
4:38
Speaker 7: but he stared back at the man as he entered
4:40
Speaker 7: the restaurant. Later, he said he was not able to
4:43
Speaker 7: pinpoint any one think specifically about the man that stood out.
4:47
Speaker 7: He said only that the man's energy wasn't right. He
4:50
Speaker 7: felt it and it was uncomfortable. In the furthest booth
4:55
Speaker 7: next to the wall and the doorway that led to
4:56
Speaker 7: the restrooms sat two more patrons, Mike and Tray. Sharita
5:01
Speaker 7: and de Ebeni were singing in the booth in front.
5:04
Speaker 7: The scene inside was settled for the better part of
5:06
Speaker 7: the next minute. Alexis sat down, James and Brennan looked
5:10
Speaker 7: at the menus staff were busy prepping orders behind the counter.
5:14
Speaker 7: One cook declared that he was popping outside for his
5:16
Speaker 7: fifteen minute break. Then, as Kayla stood from the bar stool,
5:21
Speaker 7: glass from the front windows came flying in at them.
5:24
Speaker 7: The sound of gunshots rang out. Everyone scattered. When the
5:30
Speaker 7: blast of the windows was heard, The da Silver brothers separated,
5:34
Speaker 7: while a baby and Alexis ran for the doors towards
5:36
Speaker 7: the restrooms. Akila and Tia split off to the left
5:40
Speaker 7: under the booths along the side wall on that end
5:42
Speaker 7: of the restaurant. James and Brennan likewise made a run
5:45
Speaker 7: for the restroom doors. Brennan, having pulled James up and
5:48
Speaker 7: forward while they stumbled, made it through to a bathroom
5:51
Speaker 7: where he was locked inside with a baby and Alexis.
5:55
Speaker 7: James found himself in the outer hallway with Mike and Trey,
5:58
Speaker 7: who had pushed through the door from their nearby booth.
6:02
Speaker 7: These three stood behind only the swinging back door. Sharita
6:05
Speaker 7: and d Ebene slid under their table, where Sharita, playing
6:09
Speaker 7: a protective big sister, tried to cover her friend as
6:12
Speaker 7: much as she could. Gaila had been completely exposed in
6:16
Speaker 7: her position in front of the counter, but she had
6:18
Speaker 7: miraculously dropped to the floor behind the stools at the
6:21
Speaker 7: moment that the glass gave way. She faced towards the counter,
6:25
Speaker 7: eyes shut, and laid perfectly still. She had not been
6:28
Speaker 7: struck when the glass shattered, only a few small shards
6:31
Speaker 7: of glass had flown into her face, which at the
6:33
Speaker 7: time went unnoticed. Fighting the initial instinct that she had
6:37
Speaker 7: to turn around and confront whomever had caused the disturbance,
6:40
Speaker 7: and still completely unaware of what was happening, She opted
6:44
Speaker 7: instead to lay very still, silent and play dead. This
6:48
Speaker 7: instinctual thinking and the later actions of James Shaw, would
6:52
Speaker 7: save her life. The man in the gold to Chevy
6:55
Speaker 7: extended cab pickup truck, wearing only a waist length green
6:59
Speaker 7: jacket and armed with an AR fifteen rifle, had gotten
7:02
Speaker 7: out of his vehicle. He shot first at Joey Perez,
7:06
Speaker 7: twenty years old, a patron on his way into the restaurant,
7:09
Speaker 7: only feet from the door. A long time waffle house employee,
7:13
Speaker 7: Tory and Sanderlin witnessed this, began to run and was
7:17
Speaker 7: also shot just outside the door. Both of these shootings
7:20
Speaker 7: were fatal. After firing into the front windows, shattering the glass,
7:25
Speaker 7: the man went inside. Chuck Cadero was in the parking
7:28
Speaker 7: lot when the incident occurred.
7:32
Speaker 8: I worked nights, so I killed time in there I
7:34
Speaker 8: have coffee or have something to eat. I showed up
7:37
Speaker 8: tonight and they were a little busy, so I stayed
7:40
Speaker 8: in my car for a few minutes, which is probably
7:42
Speaker 8: a blessing. T My friend, who was the cook, was
7:46
Speaker 8: outside smoking a cigarette. I got out of my car
7:49
Speaker 8: to go inside, and as I got out, this lunatic
7:53
Speaker 8: and a pickup pulled up. He got out with an
7:56
Speaker 8: assault rifle, wearing only a jacket, nothing from the waist down, really,
8:00
Speaker 8: just craziness. And he shot a customer who was about
8:05
Speaker 8: to go in the door, and then he shot my
8:07
Speaker 8: friend who was trying to get away on the sidewalk,
8:10
Speaker 8: and then he fired a few shots through the window,
8:13
Speaker 8: and then he went inside.
8:16
Speaker 7: Watching from the small window of the swinging door, James
8:19
Speaker 7: Shaw deduced that if the gunman decided to make his
8:21
Speaker 7: way towards the back restrooms, every person there, including himself,
8:26
Speaker 7: were facing some pretty stark odds, so he waited for
8:29
Speaker 7: an opportunity. The gunman paused to reload his weapon. In
8:32
Speaker 7: that moment, James pushed through the swinging door. He was
8:36
Speaker 7: within two strides of the attacker. He managed to grasp
8:39
Speaker 7: the end of the rifle and push it upwards and
8:41
Speaker 7: ultimately out of the attacker's grip, throwing the weapon across
8:44
Speaker 7: the counter to the ground. James proceeded to gain control
8:47
Speaker 7: of the man and force him out the front door.
8:49
Speaker 7: At the restaurant. The attacker awkwardly abandoned his only piece
8:53
Speaker 7: of clothing along the walkway outside of the building. He
8:56
Speaker 7: then walked from the property, also leaving his vehicle and
8:59
Speaker 7: his weapon behind. As it fell silent inside the restaurant,
9:03
Speaker 7: those hiding and protective positions began to emerge and to
9:07
Speaker 7: call for help. Both Aquila and Tia had been injured.
9:14
Speaker 7: She had a womb to the leg, while Akila appeared
9:17
Speaker 7: to have been hit in the arm. At first, the
9:19
Speaker 7: extent of Akuila's injuries were not apparent. Akila was taken
9:23
Speaker 7: by ambulance to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, but he
9:27
Speaker 7: could not be resuscitated. He was twenty three years old.
9:30
Speaker 7: The Ebony Groves was twenty one years old, a Deansless
9:34
Speaker 7: graduate from Galatin High School enrolled in Belmont University. She
9:38
Speaker 7: had a dream of being a social worker. Despite her
9:41
Speaker 7: friend Scharita's best efforts to protect her, Deebony also passed
9:45
Speaker 7: away at Vanderbilt Medical Center early that Sunday morning. Sharita,
9:50
Speaker 7: twenty four years old, suffered a gunshot wound to the
9:53
Speaker 7: leg and two to the arm. She survived, but, like Tia,
9:58
Speaker 7: would suffer permanent injuries to her leg. It turns out
10:02
Speaker 7: James Shaw was also grazed with a bullet on the
10:04
Speaker 7: arm and injury that he was unaware of until well
10:07
Speaker 7: after the incident. He also suffered burns to his hand
10:10
Speaker 7: where he had grabbed the barrel of the rifle. Similarly,
10:14
Speaker 7: after offering rapid prayers for those inside, Kayla Shaw ran
10:17
Speaker 7: for her vehicle, where her cousin still waited for her,
10:20
Speaker 7: and they fled the area, noticing only later that she
10:24
Speaker 7: had been struck with some broken glass. She went to
10:26
Speaker 7: the Vanderbilt Medical Center, where she met others from the restaurant,
10:29
Speaker 7: including James Shaw Junior, who was no relation to her,
10:33
Speaker 7: but to whom all of the survivors inside the waffle
10:35
Speaker 7: house that night owed their lives.
10:40
Speaker 5: And we distinctively remember the cook. Yeah, the cook was
10:46
Speaker 5: actually washing dishes, and he was stacking the plates up,
10:52
Speaker 5: and he was stacking them pretty high up on the
10:54
Speaker 5: hood to where we were like, those are going to
10:56
Speaker 5: fall off. So when we first heard what I know
10:59
Speaker 5: now is the gunshot, we thought it was plates crashing,
11:02
Speaker 5: because we had pretty much made that up in our
11:04
Speaker 5: minds that it was the plate was going to fall.
11:07
Speaker 5: I actually went behind this like a push door, swivel door,
11:11
Speaker 5: and uh, he shot through that door. I'm pretty sure,
11:16
Speaker 5: and I'm pretty sure he grazed my arm, and it
11:19
Speaker 5: was at that time that I kind of made up
11:21
Speaker 5: my mind, because there's no way to lock that door,
11:25
Speaker 5: that if it was gonna come down to it, he
11:28
Speaker 5: was gonna have to work to work to kill me.
11:34
Speaker 7: The response by law enforcement was quick. Detective some are
11:38
Speaker 7: all described this case as the easiest to solve. The
11:41
Speaker 7: entire incident had been captured on multiple security cameras. There
11:45
Speaker 7: were numerous witnesses who saw the strange man seated in
11:48
Speaker 7: the gold truck outside of the restaurant, and the truck
11:50
Speaker 7: itself still sat in its spot with the keys in
11:53
Speaker 7: the ignition. Perhaps most notably, when the police checked the truck,
11:58
Speaker 7: they found two personal checks in the console. They belonged
12:01
Speaker 7: to twenty nine year old Travis Jeffrey Reanking. Travis had
12:07
Speaker 7: lived in the apartment complex directly behind the restaurant for
12:10
Speaker 7: three months. His criminal record showed a series of incidents,
12:14
Speaker 7: including one in which he had dressed in a pink
12:16
Speaker 7: house gown or dress and had threatened a former colleague
12:20
Speaker 7: with an AR fifteen style rifle. He had a history
12:23
Speaker 7: of related issues linked to severe mental illness, and he
12:26
Speaker 7: fit the description of the shooter. The manhunt commenced immediately
12:30
Speaker 7: and they knew who they were looking for. By noon,
12:34
Speaker 7: investigators had gained entry to Travis Ranking's apartment. In it,
12:38
Speaker 7: they found two more guns and more than eight thousand
12:41
Speaker 7: rounds of ammunition. More than one hundred and sixty officers
12:44
Speaker 7: were involved in the search for Travis. Local residents were
12:48
Speaker 7: on edge, knowing that the shooter was not in custody
12:50
Speaker 7: and had left on foot. He was likely to still
12:53
Speaker 7: be in the area, and police warned that he could
12:56
Speaker 7: be armed. Everyone was on the lookout while police spoke
13:00
Speaker 7: to the press with regular updates on their search efforts.
13:03
Speaker 9: According to a witness, a shirtless man fitting Ryan King's
13:08
Speaker 9: description was seen in the woodline. A police helicopter and
13:13
Speaker 9: several police dogs attempted a track of Ryan King. The
13:17
Speaker 9: dogs were tracking along the TVA power line the power
13:21
Speaker 9: grid until the dogs lost the track. But we'd think
13:26
Speaker 9: he has fled that immediate area on foot. At this point,
13:31
Speaker 9: we do not know where he is.
13:34
Speaker 10: I'm standing in the construction site behind the Diamond upltments
13:37
Speaker 10: on the Mountain Springs Road and between the school.
13:42
Speaker 11: There's a man that just walked through my job.
13:44
Speaker 8: Dark pants, dark shirt, wearing a backpack.
13:49
Speaker 6: It looks like this guy, he's got.
13:51
Speaker 11: Mud all over him.
13:53
Speaker 6: Okay, he said, it's a construction site for diamond apartments.
13:58
Speaker 11: No, diamond apartments is where I'm right here behind it.
14:06
Speaker 7: After thirty four hours, a detective Williams spotted Travis in
14:10
Speaker 7: a wooded area just behind the apartment building where he lived,
14:13
Speaker 7: not far from the waffle house itself. Travis had returned
14:17
Speaker 7: to his apartment, showered, dressed, and collected belongings into a backpack.
14:22
Speaker 7: Later he would claim he was making an escape to Canada.
14:25
Speaker 7: In the backpack was a gun and ammunition, a collection
14:28
Speaker 7: of solid silver bars, and bottles of water. Not located
14:32
Speaker 7: in his bag, however, was his passport that was located
14:36
Speaker 7: inside the safe in his apartment.
14:39
Speaker 12: The suspect turned around and Detective Williams saw his face
14:43
Speaker 12: and realized that that is the suspect we were looking for.
14:45
Speaker 12: At that point, detective Williams drew down on the suspect.
14:50
Speaker 12: The suspect proned out. He told him to get on the ground.
14:52
Speaker 12: He got on the ground immediately proned himself out. Other
14:55
Speaker 12: detectives came and assisted put him into custody and put.
15:02
Speaker 7: The first indications that something was not right with Travis
15:05
Speaker 7: had come years earlier, when he still lived in his
15:07
Speaker 7: hometown of Morton, Illinois. He worked as a manager in
15:10
Speaker 7: a grocery store for a time, as well as a
15:12
Speaker 7: crane operator in his early and mid twenties. It was
15:16
Speaker 7: during this time that Travis began to develop delusions and
15:19
Speaker 7: became increasingly more paranoid. Central to his alternative reality was
15:23
Speaker 7: the belief that Taylor Swift had been stalking him. She
15:26
Speaker 7: would break into his apartment, hack his phone and computer,
15:29
Speaker 7: and access his bank account. On a YouTube channel, he
15:34
Speaker 7: posted roughly thirty videos detailing what he believed were targeted
15:37
Speaker 7: attacks upon him by Taylor, by law enforcement, by family members,
15:41
Speaker 7: and others.
15:43
Speaker 3: I come into my bathroom.
15:45
Speaker 13: I've noticed in my bathroom the toilet seat is up.
15:50
Speaker 3: The toilet seat is up on my toilet. And then,
15:56
Speaker 3: like I.
15:57
Speaker 13: Said to my dad the other day, there was finger
16:00
Speaker 13: friends on the sides of my laptop.
16:02
Speaker 3: There's fingerprints on the sides. And never open the lid
16:05
Speaker 3: that way.
16:06
Speaker 13: When I open the lid of my laptop, I open
16:09
Speaker 13: the little of my laptop.
16:10
Speaker 3: I always grab it here and open it, you know.
16:14
Speaker 13: But then so so then there's there's these notes that
16:18
Speaker 13: was in my notes, you know the notes that I
16:20
Speaker 13: keep my journals that I keep on my computer. It's
16:22
Speaker 13: labeled under journals, and I keep these notes in there,
16:25
Speaker 13: you know, to keep track of all this stuff that's
16:27
Speaker 13: been happening to me. And it's like, why is somebody
16:31
Speaker 13: coming in my apartment and.
16:32
Speaker 3: Doing this stuff? You know, this is illegal?
16:34
Speaker 13: Why is somebody getting all my private property like that?
16:37
Speaker 3: Why is someone going into my bathroom? And that's the
16:39
Speaker 3: thing is I know for a fact that I never
16:42
Speaker 3: lift the toilet seat. I never put the toilet seat up,
16:46
Speaker 3: and never do that. It's always down.
16:50
Speaker 13: It's probably because you know, she's, oh, it's tatos way
16:53
Speaker 13: up to you know, she wants to pretend, like she said, dude,
16:55
Speaker 13: flipping the toilet seat up, like there's some guide in
16:58
Speaker 13: here using it like that.
17:02
Speaker 3: Julia Robbers person. There's open some psychopath like breaks into her.
17:06
Speaker 13: House and she's hiding in her closet because she's afraid
17:09
Speaker 13: of like this person that's doing this stuff.
17:11
Speaker 3: And it's like, look at look at these people. They're afraid,
17:14
Speaker 3: and yet they expect me not to be like, look,
17:16
Speaker 3: they're coming in here.
17:18
Speaker 13: They're doing this stuff in my apartment and then I'm
17:20
Speaker 13: not supposed to be scared.
17:23
Speaker 7: Travis was committed to a mental health facility after asking
17:26
Speaker 7: for family members' help in locating Taylor, whom he believed
17:30
Speaker 7: must have been lurking somewhere around small town Wharton taunting him.
17:34
Speaker 7: His treatment, however, clearly didn't take and it was reported
17:37
Speaker 7: later that he refused to take regular medication in Colorado,
17:42
Speaker 7: where he later moved in twenty sixteen, Travis reached out
17:45
Speaker 7: to police to make a formal report regarding the stocking,
17:49
Speaker 7: but after unloading all of his concerns to the local sheriff,
17:52
Speaker 7: the harassment continued.
17:56
Speaker 11: Yeah, I need to report something and to the share
18:00
Speaker 11: of office can close?
18:02
Speaker 4: Okay, what do you need to report?
18:04
Speaker 11: I have somebody stalking me around town and I do
18:07
Speaker 11: not appreciate it. I wanted to stop, and no one
18:10
Speaker 11: seems to take me seriously when I say that. Okay,
18:14
Speaker 11: And who is it that's stalking you? Taylor? Switch? Okay?
18:20
Speaker 11: And is this person a male or a female that's
18:23
Speaker 11: stalking you? Female?
18:26
Speaker 14: Okay?
18:27
Speaker 11: And what is she doing that? Do you say she's
18:30
Speaker 11: stalking you? Yeah? I mean everywhere I go like they're
18:33
Speaker 11: stalking on the internet. They're stalking me like in person
18:37
Speaker 11: everywhere I go. I'm pretty sure, like the police here
18:39
Speaker 11: are involved in it, and like I wanted to stop.
18:43
Speaker 11: It's stupid. No one has the right to do that
18:45
Speaker 11: to me. Okay, what exactly are they doing? But somehow
18:51
Speaker 11: they're like getting on my Facebook, they're getting on my YouTube,
18:54
Speaker 11: they're getting on my Netflix, and they're changing the videos
18:57
Speaker 11: that I see as they pop up.
19:02
Speaker 2: Okay, I'll have an officer come meet you at your
19:06
Speaker 2: house then, okay, okay, yeah.
19:13
Speaker 7: In July twenty seventeen, Travis was arrested just outside of
19:17
Speaker 7: the White House in Washington, d C. After attempting to
19:19
Speaker 7: force his way onto the grounds. He had declared himself
19:23
Speaker 7: a sovereign citizen and insisted that he both speak with
19:26
Speaker 7: the President and inspect the grounds. By this time, Travis
19:30
Speaker 7: was claiming that the police were not only ignoring his concerns,
19:33
Speaker 7: but were in league with larger agencies like the CIA
19:36
Speaker 7: and the FBI, conspiring against him. He also wrote about
19:40
Speaker 7: his wife, a shape shifting alien named Seline, whom he
19:44
Speaker 7: was helping to defeat her alien foes. When he traveled
19:47
Speaker 7: to Washington, he thought that perhaps the President could help him.
19:51
Speaker 7: Following this incident, all four of Travis's registered guns, including
19:55
Speaker 7: his rifle, were confiscated. They were handed over to his father, Jeffrey,
19:59
Speaker 7: by his request, who promised to keep them safely away
20:02
Speaker 7: from his son, But before he relocated to Tennessee, his father,
20:07
Speaker 7: for reasons that remain unclear, returned to the weapons to
20:10
Speaker 7: his son.
20:13
Speaker 10: For health.
20:13
Speaker 15: Concerned are you that Travis Ryanking was able to slip
20:16
Speaker 15: through the tracks?
20:18
Speaker 14: Are you staying from the time yesterday at the shooting
20:21
Speaker 14: until now or concerned that.
20:23
Speaker 15: Travis Ryan King has a past mental health history, and
20:26
Speaker 15: he also has had many run ins with law enforcement,
20:28
Speaker 15: including the Secret Service. The FBI is aware of him.
20:30
Speaker 15: How concerned are you that.
20:31
Speaker 3: He slipped through the press?
20:32
Speaker 7: Okay?
20:33
Speaker 14: I can tell you from our perspective after the incidents
20:36
Speaker 14: of White House and in the assessment that happened in
20:40
Speaker 14: the Springfield office, that every federal resource was brought to
20:44
Speaker 14: bear and that we were able to effectively neutralize what
20:49
Speaker 14: we felt was the threat at the time by ensuring
20:52
Speaker 14: that he did not have the ability to purchase our
20:54
Speaker 14: own weapons.
20:56
Speaker 7: Travis underwent a psych evaluation while being held in Davidson
20:59
Speaker 7: Care to jail, he spoke to a local reporter claiming
21:02
Speaker 7: that he was in perfect mental health, but was unhappy
21:05
Speaker 7: with the legal representation that he had been given in
21:08
Speaker 7: choosing to represent himself at a pre trial hearing to
21:11
Speaker 7: determine his competency. However, the judge, after hearing from the
21:15
Speaker 7: States treating forensic psychologist, determined that Travis was not fit
21:19
Speaker 7: to stand trial.
21:23
Speaker 16: That mister Ryanking does have a serious and persistent mental illness.
21:26
Speaker 4: Is that wrong?
21:28
Speaker 3: What is it?
21:29
Speaker 15: What's the diagnosis schizophrenia?
21:31
Speaker 16: And what kind of factors go in determining that a
21:35
Speaker 16: person has schizophrenia or the type of symptoms that you
21:39
Speaker 16: would expect.
21:40
Speaker 15: To say in general?
21:42
Speaker 4: Are his symptoms in general?
21:44
Speaker 3: In general?
21:45
Speaker 15: Okay, a big part of schizophrenia is a detachment from reality.
21:51
Speaker 15: So there's hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, disorganized thinking, disorganized speech and behavior.
22:04
Speaker 16: And does mister Wacking didn't display more or more of
22:10
Speaker 16: those type of symptoms.
22:11
Speaker 3: Yes.
22:13
Speaker 7: Travis was committed to a mental care facility to be
22:15
Speaker 7: treated primarily with appropriate psychotic medications until the time that
22:20
Speaker 7: he was deemed competent to face the many indictments pending
22:23
Speaker 7: against him that came years later. Travis was declared competent
22:28
Speaker 7: to stand trial in January twenty twenty two. His defense
22:34
Speaker 7: team argued that he was not guilty of the sixteen
22:37
Speaker 7: indicted charges, including four first degree murder charges, by reason
22:41
Speaker 7: of insanity. The bar to prove this plea was quite high.
22:45
Speaker 7: They aimed to establish more than Travis's diagnosed mental condition,
22:49
Speaker 7: which was inarguable given his history, but that as an
22:52
Speaker 7: extension of this condition, he was unable to distinguish right
22:56
Speaker 7: from wrong at the time of the shooting. The two
22:58
Speaker 7: psychologists that testified, including doctor Rena Eisen, the same doctor
23:03
Speaker 7: who had spoken to Travis's competency in twenty eighteen, were
23:07
Speaker 7: chosen by the court for their expertise. Neither defense or
23:11
Speaker 7: the state prosecution paid experts to present their arguments.
23:19
Speaker 6: On the night of April twenty second, twenty eighteen. Could
23:25
Speaker 6: he appreciate that what he was doing in going into
23:28
Speaker 6: that waffle house and opening fire? Could he appreciate that
23:32
Speaker 6: that was wrong?
23:33
Speaker 11: I don't believe sty.
23:36
Speaker 6: Did he believe what he was doing was self defense?
23:41
Speaker 15: Yes?
23:41
Speaker 11: I believe so.
23:46
Speaker 7: The state argued passionately that Travis was motivated to commit
23:49
Speaker 7: the murders by hatred and revenge sentiments that were noted
23:53
Speaker 7: within his handwritten journals in the years leading up to
23:55
Speaker 7: the attack. He wrote that he believed that the employees
23:58
Speaker 7: at the waffle house by his own home were conspiring
24:01
Speaker 7: against him. He claimed that he had heard them repeat
24:03
Speaker 7: statements that he had privately recorded in his journal or
24:06
Speaker 7: said aloud only to himself while inside his home. His
24:10
Speaker 7: intention was to shoot these employees, he wrote, but to
24:12
Speaker 7: do so in a way that would allow them enough
24:14
Speaker 7: time before passing to contemplate their actions and to get
24:19
Speaker 7: right with God.
24:20
Speaker 17: You do not think that that is an indicator of
24:24
Speaker 17: understanding right from wrong, that you would give someone the
24:28
Speaker 17: chance to pray for salvation.
24:32
Speaker 15: I think that that's an understanding of religious views of
24:38
Speaker 15: right from wrong in that instance.
24:40
Speaker 17: Yes, so you do agree that giving someone the chance
24:46
Speaker 17: to get right with God before they are murdered is
24:50
Speaker 17: an indicator the person understands wrongfulness.
24:53
Speaker 3: Correct?
24:55
Speaker 15: Yeah, the general concept, Yes, that's correct.
25:00
Speaker 7: The state pointed specifically to Travis's actions five days before
25:04
Speaker 7: the shooting, when he entered a BMW dealership, requested a
25:07
Speaker 7: test drive, and then forced the saleswoman from the vehicle
25:10
Speaker 7: and drove off in the car. He entered his home
25:13
Speaker 7: address into the GPS and drove there, concerned that he
25:17
Speaker 7: required care for a mental condition. The dealership did not
25:20
Speaker 7: seek to press charges or to have Travis immediately detained.
25:24
Speaker 7: They simply retrieved the car from outside of his apartment
25:26
Speaker 7: the next morning. The prosecution pointed to his anger over
25:30
Speaker 7: this incident. Travis was attempting to take something that he
25:33
Speaker 7: felt was owed to him and it was taken away.
25:36
Speaker 7: He wrote in his journal that his next steps were
25:39
Speaker 7: to take something that they could not take, back people's lives. Conversely,
25:44
Speaker 7: the second psychologist, doctor Wood, assessed that the lack of
25:47
Speaker 7: repercussions from the BMW theft was interpreted by Travis as
25:51
Speaker 7: further evidence that no one was really paying attention to him.
25:54
Speaker 7: Travis had become convinced that his actions did not matter.
25:58
Speaker 7: He was invisible.
26:01
Speaker 1: The reality is that he was upset because the police
26:08
Speaker 1: had taken back this BMW that he had justcarjacked from
26:13
Speaker 1: a sales lady and taken.
26:17
Speaker 2: I think he was confused about that happening, yes, but
26:19
Speaker 2: I don't think that was the pivotal moment of why
26:24
Speaker 2: he did this.
26:24
Speaker 1: Now you think he was confused about what happened, well, BMW.
26:29
Speaker 2: Well, no, I think he knew exactly what happened. But
26:32
Speaker 2: I think when mister Ryan King talked about it later,
26:34
Speaker 2: he said, like, they just came back and got the car.
26:37
Speaker 2: Why didn't they arrest me? I'm invisible to them. They
26:40
Speaker 2: don't even do anything to me. And that's when he
26:43
Speaker 2: sort of said, I mean, it doesn't matter what I do,
26:45
Speaker 2: They're not responding.
26:49
Speaker 3: Mister Ryan King was able to understand that what he
26:51
Speaker 3: was doing was wrong on the incident at Walker House
26:55
Speaker 3: in April twenty second, twenty eighteen.
26:57
Speaker 4: I do have an opinion about that.
26:58
Speaker 3: What is your opinion about that?
26:59
Speaker 4: That he did not I appreciate what he was doing
27:01
Speaker 4: was wrong, all.
27:02
Speaker 3: Right, What is the basis of your opinion for that.
27:05
Speaker 2: Well, I've described that at the point in time that
27:08
Speaker 2: this occurred, mister Ryanking had grown increasingly fearful of this persecution,
27:15
Speaker 2: this hacking, that these things were.
27:18
Speaker 4: Happening to him. He described people breaking into his.
27:20
Speaker 2: Home and he was increasingly concerned over the course of
27:24
Speaker 2: time what they were going to do. When he went
27:27
Speaker 2: and repossessed the BMW, it was consistent with his belief
27:31
Speaker 2: that at the time, you know, they've stolen everything from me,
27:35
Speaker 2: I can repossess this.
27:36
Speaker 4: It just makes sense to me. Why couldn't I?
27:38
Speaker 2: I told you that the next morning they had brought
27:40
Speaker 2: they took the BMW back, but had no interaction with
27:43
Speaker 2: the police. And mister Ryanking interpreted this consistent with the
27:47
Speaker 2: way he'd kind of viewed himself to this point, is
27:49
Speaker 2: that he was an invisible man.
27:50
Speaker 4: They weren't going to do anything. He'd asked them for help.
27:52
Speaker 4: No one was listening. They didn't believe him. He stole
27:55
Speaker 4: a BMW, and they didn't even arrest him.
27:58
Speaker 2: The night of the incidents, Ryan King said that he
28:01
Speaker 2: arrived home and he found evidence in his apartment that
28:04
Speaker 2: had been broken into. He said that there was an
28:06
Speaker 2: unusual smell that's not normally there. There were things that
28:09
Speaker 2: were missing, and I believe a door was closed when
28:11
Speaker 2: it's normally opened. At that moment, mister Ryan King explained
28:15
Speaker 2: that he was incredibly fearful and terrified. He said, at
28:18
Speaker 2: that point, I felt like their behavior had become increasingly
28:20
Speaker 2: erratic and unpredictable.
28:22
Speaker 4: I didn't know what they were going to do next.
28:25
Speaker 2: During my conversations with mister Ryan King, and as well
28:27
Speaker 2: as in his journal, he described this is what he
28:30
Speaker 2: considered a life and death situation. Mister Ranking said, at
28:33
Speaker 2: this point, I didn't know what else to do. I'd
28:35
Speaker 2: gone to their people, i told the police, I'd asked
28:38
Speaker 2: for help, I'd made these videos.
28:40
Speaker 4: I'd sleep with an assault rifle, all of these things,
28:43
Speaker 4: and I'm still not safe.
28:45
Speaker 2: Mister Ryan King then prayed at that point to God
28:47
Speaker 2: about what should I do. He has described that in
28:50
Speaker 2: that moment, he received at times he described it as
28:53
Speaker 2: a voice, at other times at command from God that
28:56
Speaker 2: was very specific, and it was very directive. And this
28:58
Speaker 2: directed come from God was to take his jacket, the
29:03
Speaker 2: jacket he was wearing, take the gun, and go to
29:06
Speaker 2: waffle house and shoot three people.
29:08
Speaker 7: By his own record, Travis stated that God had instructed
29:11
Speaker 7: him to kill three people, but his firing seemed indiscriminate,
29:15
Speaker 7: and had it not been for James Shaw, he very
29:18
Speaker 7: likely would have continued.
29:20
Speaker 1: God didn't even make it clear that he had to
29:24
Speaker 1: kill people.
29:25
Speaker 14: Well.
29:25
Speaker 2: He said that he later considered it and said, you know,
29:27
Speaker 2: there's other meanings of shoot. He could have meant shoot
29:30
Speaker 2: a camera and take pictures of them, or shoot a
29:32
Speaker 2: paintball gun and clarified, these are not things that I
29:35
Speaker 2: thought about until afterward, but it's possible I misinterpreted it.
29:39
Speaker 1: Okay, So there's two parts there. One, as he's telling
29:44
Speaker 1: you about what he did, he is expressing that he
29:48
Speaker 1: had some doubts about the clarity of God's command to him.
29:53
Speaker 17: Right.
29:54
Speaker 2: Yes, that's why I talked about him feeling very conflicted
29:56
Speaker 2: about this, wanting to make sure.
29:59
Speaker 4: I don't want to do this if it's wrong. I
30:01
Speaker 4: want to make sure this is what I'm supposed to do.
30:04
Speaker 1: And also that he thought he could have just used
30:06
Speaker 1: the paintball.
30:07
Speaker 2: Good after the fact. He said, that's not something I
30:10
Speaker 2: consider at the time, but maybe I could have done
30:12
Speaker 2: that instead.
30:12
Speaker 4: Or a camera, Yeah, he said it's possible. He meant
30:15
Speaker 4: shoot with the camera.
30:17
Speaker 1: Obviously, if Travis Rankin had taken his camera to the
30:20
Speaker 1: waffle house, we wouldn't have anybody dead today, would we.
30:24
Speaker 4: We would not be here today. That's exactly right.
30:28
Speaker 7: In closing arguments, the defense reminded the jury that the
30:31
Speaker 7: state never called their own doctor to counter the findings
30:34
Speaker 7: of the other psychologists. The defense had met their burden,
30:37
Speaker 7: they said, two unbiased experts agreed. The prosecution then reminded
30:42
Speaker 7: the jurors that the court may pick the psychologists, but
30:45
Speaker 7: the decision of what verdict to render is theirs alone.
30:51
Speaker 7: The verdict was returned in under four hours of deliberations
30:54
Speaker 7: over two days. Travis Ryan King was found guilty on
30:58
Speaker 7: all sixteen counts. Survivors of the attack and family members
31:05
Speaker 7: of the victims testified in the sentencing portion of the trial.
31:11
Speaker 10: I pray that he is sentenced to the maximum time allowed,
31:14
Speaker 10: with enhancements to be run consecutively. James Shaw, Kayla Shaw,
31:20
Speaker 10: Tia Wagner, Torean Saunderland, Joe Parriz, Akila Da Silva, dm
31:26
Speaker 10: Ne Groves, and I deserve that much. Thank you.
31:32
Speaker 7: Travis was handed four life sentences, one for each murder victim,
31:36
Speaker 7: the time to be served consecutively. On top of this
31:39
Speaker 7: was an additional one hundred and fourteen years for other charges,
31:43
Speaker 7: including felony, murder, attempted murder, and firearms charges. Travis's father,
31:49
Speaker 7: Jeffrey Ranking, was charged in Illinois for giving the firearms
31:52
Speaker 7: back to his son. He was convicted by a judge
31:55
Speaker 7: in May twenty twenty two and faces one to three
31:58
Speaker 7: years in prison and thousand and fines. Jeffrey's attorney had
32:02
Speaker 7: argued that the father was in fact, unaware that his
32:05
Speaker 7: son had been treated for mental health issues. James Shaw
32:09
Speaker 7: Junior was honored by the state Legislature in Tennessee for
32:12
Speaker 7: his heroic actions. He was also the recipient of the
32:15
Speaker 7: Beet Humanitarian Award in twenty eighteen, and the Department of
32:20
Speaker 7: Justice awarded him with the Special Courage Award in twenty nineteen.
32:25
Speaker 5: I don't know. I just don't see what I did,
32:27
Speaker 5: as you know, heroic. I can get the kind of
32:32
Speaker 5: the brave part, but heroic, I don't know. It seems
32:36
Speaker 5: like that's a little fabricated, a little dramatic for me.
32:39
Speaker 5: But like I said, I didn't do it to be heroic.
32:42
Speaker 5: If anything, I did it to be completely selfish of
32:46
Speaker 5: myself and I tried to save myself and in that
32:49
Speaker 5: act I actually saved other people. So that's why I
32:53
Speaker 5: think when people say it's heroic, it's kind of weird
32:56
Speaker 5: because I did it one hundred percent to save myself.
33:02
Speaker 7: And that was the story of the waffle House tragedy
33:05
Speaker 7: and the disturbing case of Travis Jeffrey Reinking. Thanks for watching.
33:09
Speaker 7: I'm Kevin. This is just thought lounge, and I'll see
33:12
Speaker 7: in the next one.