Serial killer on Uber

Driver admits slaying six strangers between picking up fares

A MICHIGAN man charged with killing six strangers between picking up rides for Uber has pleaded guilty to murder, just before attorneys were set to interview jurors for his trial.

Jason Dalton’s surprise move came more than three years after the shootings, which occurred over the course of a few hours in and around Kalamazoo in the US.

Dalton pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder over his attorney’s objections, triggering a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no chance for parole.

“Yes, I’ve wanted this for quite a while,” Dalton replied when a judge asked if the pleas were voluntary.

The 48-year-old Dalton answered “yes” to a series of questions, admitting that he shot eight people at three locations. After his arrest, police quoted Dalton as saying a “devil figure” on Uber’s app was controlling him on the day of the shootings.

Four women were killed in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant: Barbara Hawthorne, Dorothy “Judy” Brown, Mary Lou Nye and her sister-in-law, Mary Jo Nye.

Rich Smith and his 17-yearold son, Tyler Smith, were fatally shot while looking at a pick-up truck in a dealer’s lot.

Abigail Kopf, who was 14 at the time, was shot in the head during the restaurant shooting and survived. Tiana Carruthers was injured in a residential area.

Dalton had been deemed competent to stand trial and last week dropped an insanity defence. In court, he didn’t explain why he randomly shot eight people. Dalton, the father of two children, had worked as an insurance adjuster and had no previous criminal record before the shootings.

Prosecutor Jeff Getting said the motive behind the shootings was a question that “haunts us”.

“Everybody wants to know,” he said at a news conference after the court hearing.