A nude gunman shot dead three people and injured at least four more in the early hours of Sunday at a restaurant on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee, police said. The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said in a statement that the shooting occurred at a Waffle House restaurant in Antioch, a suburb southeast of Nashville, at 3:25 am (0825 GMT).
"A patron wrestled away the gunman's rifle. He was nude & fled on foot. He is a white man with short hair," the statement added. A following statement named 29-year-old Travis Reinking, of Morton, Illinois - a village located some 450 miles north of Antioch - as a person of interest. Police said the suspect arrived in a car registered to Reinking. They added the gunman, who had shed his coat, was last seen walking on Murfreesboro Pike, where the 24-hour diner is located. Local media citing police on the scene reported the gunman was armed with an AR-15 assault rifle - a weapon commonly used by mass shooters in the US, where debate over gun control is fierce and shootings are all-too-frequent.
Reports added at least one victim was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, located in Nashville itself.
AR-15 rifles were used to kill 58 people in Las Vegas last October, while Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz in February opened fire on his former high school with an AR-15 style rifle, killing 17 students and staff members.