Kalamazoo mass shooting suspect charged with 6 counts of murder

Dalton is accused of shooting eight people during an attack that started outside an apartment complex and continued at a vehicle dealership and a Cracker Barrel restaurant lot, authorities said.

A prosecutor filed six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder against 45-year-old Jason Dalton of Kalamazoo Township in the series of shootings.

Jason Dalton, 45, had 14 confirmed fares since he started working as an Uber driver a couple days ago, according to Kalamazoo Public Safety Chief Jeff Hadley.

Uber passenger Matt Mellen said he called police to report that Dalton was driving erratically more than an hour before the shootings began.

“I said, ‘You’re not the shooter, are you?’ And he said, ‘No.’ And I said, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said, ‘No, I’m just exhausted, I’ve been driving for 7 hours, ‘” one Uber customer who rode with Dalton recalled.

The fast-growing, San Francisco-based ride-hailing company defended its screening of drivers Monday, saying it couldn’t have predicted that driver Jason Dalton would engage in the random shootings that left a half-dozen people dead in Kalamazoo Saturday night.

A large crowd gathered Sunday night honor the victims: 53-year-old Richard Smith and his 17-year-old son, Tyler, both of Kalamazoo; 60-year-old Mary Jo Nye of Battle Creek, her 62-year-old sister-in-law Mary Lou Nye of Baroda, 68-year-old Barbara Hawthorne and 74-year-old Dorothy Brown, both of Battle Creek.

Minutes later, five people were shot in the parking lot of a restaurant.

A judge Monday denied bail for Dalton; his next court hearing is scheduled for March 3.

“Our hope is for peace and healing for the victims, the families of the victims, the Kalamazoo community and those touched by these events throughout the nation”, the family said in a statement released Monday to the Free Press.

Mr Dalton allegedly carried out killings at three different areas of the County on Saturday evening, picking up and dropping off Uber passengers along the way.

The 14-year-old girl is in critical condition at Bronson Hospital.

But you got families who are shattered today.

Neighbors told the Press Dalton worked as an insurance salesman, was married, had two children and “liked guns”. “It is frustrating and we’re continuing to figure out any motives that we could latch onto to give us some reason of understanding of why these things occurred but we just don’t have that yet”. Hadley said Monday the girl is “still holding on” and responding to verbal commands.

The family said they express their “deepest sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims of the shootings”. About a mile into the trip, Dalton got a phone call, and when he hung up, he began driving recklessly, blowing through stop signs and sideswiping cars, Mellen said. Investigators are interested in learning more about communication that may have taken place between Uber and any customers Dalton may have driven Saturday. Following the weekend’s shooting, which killed six people, Uber maintained that its background checks are sufficient and said it will not change its process for weeding out potentially unsafe drivers.

While it did not seem to come up in Uber’s background check, New York Daily News reported that Dalton’s driving history hasn’t been flawless.

“Wow”, said a Kalamazoo police officer who asked not to be named when contacted by the Post early Monday morning.