EP184: Waffle House Massacre: The Taylor Swift-Obsessed Shooter

On April 22, 2018, a partially naked young man named Travis Reinking opened fire with an AR-15 rifle at a Waffle House in Antioch, Tennessee, killing four innocent people and injuring others. He had a documented history of erratic behavior, including delusions that Taylor Swift was stalking him, as well as a 2017 arrest in Washington, D.C., after attempting to breach White House security. That incident led to his arrest and the confiscation of his firearms, weapons that were later returned to his father and ultimately given back to him. This devastating case is not just about the horror of that night, but about the warning signs that preceded it, and the dangerous intersection of mental illness, access to assault-style weapons, and systemic failure.

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