The co-owner of a crane company where the suspect in a shooting at a US restaurant once worked said she urged federal officials to keep him in custody after he was arrested at the White House last year.

The suspect in a fatal shooting at a Waffle House restaurant in Tennessee has been taken into custody, according to authorities.

The man credited with saving several lives after snatching an AR-15 rifle from a gunman at a busy Tennessee restaurant has said it was a "selfish" act of self-preservation, and he does not consider himself a hero.