NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Middle Tennessee judge sentenced the 2018 Antioch Waffle House shooter, Travis Reinking, to 114 years in prison on Friday on top of four life sentences without parole. He will serve his sentences consecutively.
A jury convicted Reinking in February of walking into a Waffle House restaurant in the Antioch neighborhood of Nashville on April 22, 2018, and shooting at the patrons inside, killing four people.
The consecutive sentencing ruling was one the victims’ and their families hoped for and were grateful for the judge’s ruling.
“It’s the last chapter,” said Shaundell Brooks, mother of Akila DaSilva, who was killed in the Waffle House shooting. “I don’t know if it’s so much closure, at least not mentally or emotionally.”
James Shaw Jr., the man who tackled Reinking to stop him from shooting more people that day, said it wasn’t an emotional closure.
“It’s a closure of the trial being hopefully over with. We won’t have to come back to any more hearings,” said Shaw.
Before the ruling came down, victims and family members gave emotional impact statements about how April 22, 2018, the day of the shooting, changed their lives forever.
“I had been to funerals before but going to any funeral is completely different than having to sit in the front row at the funeral. I hate talking about this day,” said Amber DaSilva, Akilah DaSilva’s sister. “We didn’t ask for this, the shooter forced this life on us.”
“My sons will never get to see their little brother again,” said Patricia Perez, Mother Of Victim Joe Perez, who was killed in the shooting. “You deserve life behind bars for the rest of your life. Nothing else. That’s what you deserve.”
“I not only lost Akilah, but I also lost my physical ability with my leg in everyday life,” said Shantia Waggoner, a survivor of the Waffle House shooting.
“How this death affects my life? I have been sentenced to a life of sadness and unimaginable grief,” said Jeffrey Sanderlin as he read the impact statement written by his mother. Jeffrey is the brother of Taurean Sanderlin, another victim of the shooting.
For some family members, this was the first time speaking at all, either during the trial or the sentencing.
“I find myself asking God why he would let this kind and loving person be murdered with a gun. A person who wrote lyrics against gun violence,” said Aldane Brooks, Brother Of Victim Akilah Dasilva. “My family and I have to push through 1,546 days of pain, four years two months and 24 days of depression, 220 weeks and six days of separation, and 7,104 hours of trauma. This should not be possible.”
Some loved ones, during their impact statement, addressed Reinking directly
“I want this to be the very last day that I have to sit in a courtroom and look at you,” said Di’Angelo Groves, brother of victim DeEbony Groves.
“I may have been stripped of my career, my body, and my best friend. But you cannot break soul,” said an emotional Sharita Henderson, a Survivor of the shooting.
Shaw also spoke at the sentencing and spoke directly to Reinking at some point in his statement. Shaw Jr. brought his 8-year-old daughter to the courtroom today.
“That’s my daughter. My 8-year-old daughter, who I almost didn’t make it back to that night because of you. Because of your privilege. Because you didn’t do what you needed to do to get yourself together,” Shaw Jr. said.
After the ruling, Shaw Jr. talked about why he brought his young daughter to the courtroom on Friday.
“I brought her so people could see, what Ms. Brooks lost, what Ms. Baker lost. Ms. Perez lost. They lost their child,” Shaw Jr. said.
Despite the emotions, Reinking’s victims were clear in their request to the judge.
“I pray that he is sentenced to the maximum time allowed with enhancements run consecutively James Shaw, Kayla Shaw, Tia Waggoner, Taurean Sanderlin, Joe Perez, Akilah DaSilva, DeEbony Groves, and I, deserve that much. Thank you,” said Henderson.
Reinking’s family was also in the courtroom on Friday during the sentencing.
Reinking will serve four consecutive life sentences without parole plus the 114 years, according to the District Attorney’s office.