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Waffle House Suspect Said Taylor Swift Was Stalking Him

Posted at 5:31 PM, Apr 22, 2018
and last updated 2018-04-22 23:57:00-04

The 29-year-old man wanted in a deadly mass shooting at an Antioch Waffle House allegedly told officials Taylor Swift was stalking him.

Travis Reinking is from Illinois. Authorities in Tazewell County, Illinois held a press conference Sunday afternoon to describe information they have on him.

Authorities with the Tazewell County Sheriff's Office said they were in contact with Reinking on several occasions.

Reinking has been on the run after killing four people and injuring several others during the shooting at the restaurant on Murfreesboro Pike in Antioch.

On May 27, 2016, authorities in Illinois said they responded to a CVS parking lot in Morton, Illinois because Reinking's mother, Judith Reinking; father, Jeff Reinking; and grandmother, Marilyn Hopper had stated they were worried about him.

When the deputy arrived at the scene, Reinking was being evaluated by an official with an Emergency Response Service. Family members said Reinking had been having delusions since August 2014.

Reinking told officials Taylor Swift was harassing him by stalking him and hacking his phone. He later told them she had hacked his Netflix account, told him to meet her at a Dairy Queen, then allegedly ran from him at that location. He said he chased her to the rooftop of a building, but she was gone.

Reinking told authorities he was telling the truth. He also stated he had proof on his phone, but he would not show it to them.

His family stated he had made suicidal threats and owned guns. Officials said they took him for an evaluation at Methodist Hospital.

In regards to this incident, Tazewell County Sheriff Robert Huston said, "There is evidence there is some mental health issues involved."

Multiple other accounts of contact by officials with Reinking have been released by the Tazewell County Sheriff's Office.

One incident involved Reinking diving into a pool wearing only his underwear and a pink woman's house coat. He took the coat off in the water, and the lifeguard told him to get out of the pool.

He got out, reportedly yelling at the lifeguards, and then tried to fight them and showed his genitals.

To read more reports from Illinois involving Reinking, you can view them here.