Up First from NPR
Nick Reiner Arrested, Brown University Suspect Search, Bondi Beach Aftermath
16 Dec 2025
Chapter 1: Who is Nick Reiner and what led to his arrest?
A family friend thought Nick Reiner was on the upswing until he was accused of murder.
He was going through some rough times for many years, but his soul was so pure and so gentle.
What's known about Rob and Michelle Reiner's son? I'm Amy Martinez, that's Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News. Rhode Island authorities want the public's help in identifying the shooter at Brown University. The sooner we can identify that person, the sooner we can, I think, blow this case open. What clues do they have?
We also have some information about suspects in a mass shooting in Australia. Two men opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration. A father and son are accused. And police say a car linked to the son contained homemade Islamic State flags. What more does the evidence say? Stay with us.
Chapter 2: What struggles did Nick Reiner face before his arrest?
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Chapter 3: What details are known about the shooting at Brown University?
On Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, famous actors remember their days of obscurity, like when Pedro Pascal remembered the stress of being a waiter.
The logistical labor of meeting everyone's needs in the right manner. You know, act one, the water. Act two, the drink.
Listen to Wait, Wait in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. The killings of Rob and Michelle Reiner were intimate crimes. Police say the suspect was a man who was as close to them as anyone in their life, their own son, Nick Reiner. In the years before his arrest, Reiner spoke openly about his struggles. NPR's Mandelit Delbarco is covering the death of the filmmaker and his wife.
Chapter 4: What evidence do authorities have in the Brown University case?
Mandelit, what is known about Nick Reiner?
Chapter 5: What happened during the mass shooting at Bondi Beach?
Well, Nick Reiner is 32 years old, born in Los Angeles, and one of film director Rob Reiner's four children. Nick says he started using drugs when he was young. He was just 15 years old when he began spending years in and out of rehab and addiction treatment centers. Here's how he described himself to NPR in 2016.
I am a spoiled white rich kid from a Hollywood family, but I think it's even more of a testament to how powerful drugs can be that you don't care about any of that stuff. What was his drug use like?
Nick has been very candid about using all kinds of drugs, including meth and heroin, and he said he had many, many relapses. I heard him on a podcast talking about how he hated getting sober and how he sometimes
Chapter 6: How are Australian authorities responding to the Bondi Beach shooting?
chose to be homeless rather than going back to rehab. But 10 years ago, after bouncing around in and out of halfway homes and treatment centers, Nick decided to co-write a screenplay based on some of his experiences. Father Rob Reiner produced and directed the movie Being Charlie, about a troubled teen who has a turbulent relationship with his famous father.
Here's a scene in which Charlie's dad talks to him about supporting him through tough love.
Every expert with a desk and a diploma told me I had to be tough on you. But every time we sent you away to another one of those programs, I saw you slipping further away from us. And all I could tell myself was, I'd rather have you alive and hating me than dead on the streets.
This had to have meant a lot for the father and son to work on this creative project that grew out of their real life experiences.
That's right. And, you know, Rob Reiner told NPR's Scott Simon that their collaboration was the most satisfying creative experience he'd ever had.
Because I got to work with Nick. And even though we had struggled through some difficult times and the making of the movie certainly dredged those things up, it was also an opportunity to work through a lot of that stuff.
And Nick told Scott that making the movie was part of his recovery journey.
A lot of people that go through Addictions of all kinds are kind of hard to love when they're doing those sorts of things. So I guess the character was to show how ugly it gets.
For example, the character Charlie steals Oxycontin from a sick elderly woman who really needs it.
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