Rumors persist in IHOP investigation

A week after the IHOP shooting, investigators continue to piece together the last 72 hours of Eduardo Sencion's life in an effort to figure out what precipitated the Carson City man's deadly rampage that ended in five deaths, including his own, and seven injuries.

In the interim, the rumor mill has been busy at work, spreading claims that Sencion had an ex-girlfriend at the South Carson City restaurant; that he tried to go into two other businesses before choosing the IHOP; or that he had been contacted by police at a North Carson City restaurant six hours before the shootings after threatening to harm himself and others, and that police dropped the ball.

Sheriff's dispatch logs and reports indicate what Sheriff Ken Furlong affirms: None of those rumors is true.

"The tsunami is gone," Furlong said. "Now I'm just fighting waves of misinformation."

According to the Carson City sheriff's dispatch logs and a report, police were called to Denny's restaurant at 3:12 a.m. on Sept. 6 after a man despondent over medical problems and the dissolution of his marriage made statements that he was going to kill himself. That 39-year-old father of four, who was intoxicated, spoke with deputies, assured them he would not harm himself and eventually was driven home in a taxi.

Though that man had black hair like Sencion, he stands 6 feet 2 inches tall. Sencion stood 5 feet 5 inches tall.

The man at Denny's is unharmed and alive.

"Every one of the sightings that has been called in has been assigned to someone to run down," Furlong said. "There have been dozens of reports of sightings of the shooter all over town, and investigators have tracked down that information and backed it up with known factual data. We have looked at (the Denny's case) over and over, and it does not match."

Furlong said investigators have also been able to rule out that Sencion attempted to first go into a Jack in the Box, although they have confirmed that he went to a Jack in the Box drive-through the previous evening.

They've also ruled out a suggestion that Sencion had sold someone cigarettes at his family's South Lake Tahoe market on the morning of the shootings.

"We have no information that suggests he was up in Tahoe that morning. We have credible information he was here in town at 6:50 a.m.," said Furlong.

There's also no truth to the rumors that Sencion was involved in a love triangle with an IHOP employee, the sheriff said. The only connection to the restaurant, said Furlong, is that he and his family ate there frequently.

And Sencion was not a member of the Nevada National Guard - and nothing indicates he ever tried to join the military.

"What we have learned is he never expressed any animosity toward the military," said Furlong.

Furlong said that for every rumor that officers are dispelling, they are slowly creeping toward a complete timeline of Sencion's movements in the hours before his deadly spree.

And while so much is still unknown, Furlong is adamant about one rumor that seems to really have legs.

"We had no contact with Eduardo Sencion prior to the incident," he said.