Authorities in Nashville, Tennessee, are searching for 29-year-old suspect, Travis Reinking, who allegedly killed four people in a Waffle House early on Sunday morning while nearly nude.
"Keep your doors locked, keep your eyes open. If you see this individual — if you see a nude guy walking around this morning — call the police department immediately," said Metro Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron on Sunday, according to CNN.
Police said the incident occurred at around 3:25 a.m., local time, and left four killed and four others injured. The gunman opened fire while wearing only a jacket. Police are now searching for Reinking, of Morton, Illinois, who has remained a person of interest and the primary suspect in the attack.
But the death toll could have been much higher had it not been for the actions of James Shaw Jr., 29, who disarmed the shooter, and has since been hailed as a hero. Shaw was a customer at the Waffle House during the time of the shooting, and charged the gunman, who had used an assault-style rifle.
Aaron explained, "He [Shaw] saw the gunman looking at his rifle. At that point, the shots had stopped. So he decided to rush the gunman, actually wrestled that assault rifle away, tossed it over the counter. At that point, the gunman then fled."
"He is the hero here, and no doubt he saved many lives by wrestling the gun away and then tossing it over the counter, and prompting the man to leave," Aaron said.
On Sunday morning, he said the suspect "clothed himself with a pair of pants."
Shaw only suffered minor injuries to his elbow, along with other abrasions, according to The Tennesseean.
"When he came in, I distinctively remember thinking that he is going to have to work for this kill," Shaw recalled. "I had a chance to stop him and thankfully I stopped him."
He explained, "I grabbed the gun and kept it down. He had one hand on it. I pulled it away and threw it over the bar."
Shaw rejected the notion that he was a hero, and said "it feels selfish," The Tennesseean noted.
"I don’t really know, when everyone said that (of being a hero), it feels selfish," he said. "I was just trying to get myself out. I saw the opportunity and pretty much took it."
Waffle House expressed condolences to the victims in a statement on Sunday morning.
There is currently no known motive behind the shooting. Users on Twitter, including some of the student survivors of the Parkland shooting in February, weighed in and praised the heroic actions of Shaw.
Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu, of California, called out his Republican colleagues and demanded more actions be taken on guns.
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