What did Travis Reinking do? Case explored as Nashville Waffle House shooter is sentenced to life in prison 

Travis Reinking, who was accused of killing four people in 2018, has been sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

On February 4, the 33-year-old was found guilty on all 16 accounts, including eight first-degree murder charges. The jury's sentence was announced on February 5 after two hours of victim impact statements. The defendant exhibited no emotion.

Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Mark Fishburn accepted the sentence on one murder charge. The judge will decide whether sentences on the remaining charges are concurrent or consecutive in May.

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What did Travis Reinking do?

Travis Reinking has been accused of killing four people in an open fire with a rifle at a Waffle House in Nashville, Tennessee. The shooting began just after 3.20 AM on April 22, 2018. He fled the spot after a customer named James Shaw Jr. tried to snatch away his rifle, which triggered a manhunt for him.

During the trial, the families of the four victims testified before the jury. All of the victims were under 30 years of age.

The two men killed outside the restaurant were Waffle House employee Taurean Sanderlin, 29, and customer Joe R. Perez, 20.

Travis Reinking also killed two people inside the bar: Akilah DaSilva, 23, a college student and musician, and DeEbony Groves, 21, a college student majoring in social work who was going out with her sorority sisters.

Patricia Perez said her son would have turned 24 this year. He had recently relocated to Nashville to help his brother set up a business. However, she revealed that the victim's brother closed his business after the incident and left Nashville.

"Our lives were completely destroyed. This has broken me, not just my spirit, not just my family, but also my mind. This has broken me mentally."

Shaundelle Brooks, DaSilva's mother, gets up every day and realizes her child has gone.

"Every morning before I even get out of my bed I relive that night in my head."

She said after the shooting, she went to Waffle House. She recognized her son's shoes while he lay in the ambulance. She shouted his name three times, but he didn't answer.

The prosecution had asked for life without parole for Reinking, saying that his bullets were still ripping apart the family members of his victims.

The defence acknowledged that the victims suffered insurmountable losses. The attorneys urged jurors to set aside their emotions and look at Reinking's severe mental illness and significant delusions, which they said prevented him from understanding that his actions were wrong.