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Illinois father convicted of giving son rifle used to kill 4 people at a Waffle House in Tennessee

PEKIN, Ill. — An Illinois father has been convicted of illegally giving his son an assault-style rifle that he used to kill four people in 2018 at a Waffle House in Tennessee.

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The Journal Star says Jeffrey Reinking was convicted last week of “illegal delivery of a firearm to a person who had been treated for mental illness within the past five years,”

The Associated Press says Tazewell County prosecutors argued that Jeffrey knew that his son, Travis Reinking, had sought mental health treatment in 2016. They say in May 2016, police were called out to a pharmacy where Travis told them that he believed Taylor Swift was stalking him and in 2017, he showed up at the White House unarmed and demanded to meet with then-President Donald Trump, according to the AP. Jeffrey’s lawyers argued that he was unaware of any mental health issues.

Travis had his firearm owner’s identification card taken away by the Illinois State Police, which made it illegal for him to have any guns within Illinois, the AP says. Travis gave his guns to Jeffrey. The guns included an assault-style rifle, an AR-15, at the Waffle House in Tennessee that killed four people. The AP says sometime before the shooting, Jeffrey returned the guns, including the AR-15, to his son.

Travis was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for four counts of first-degree murder and additional charges last February, according to the AP.

Reinking will be sentenced on June 17 and he is facing up to three years in prison. According to the Journal Star, he could get probation.

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