‘ THEY APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN CHOSEN AT RANDOM BECAUSE THEY WERE AVAILABLE’
Uber driver suspected of killing six — in between passenger pickups
KALAMAZOO, MICH. • A shooter who killed six people and injured two others Saturday was an Uber driver who appears to have gunned down people at random during a four- hour rampage, officials say.
Authorities say they are investigating reports the suspect gave a harrowing ride to one passenger just an hour and half before the shooting began and that he may have continued picking up fares during the rampage of violence.
On Sunday morning, Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeffrey Getting said police identified the suspect as Jason Brian Dalton, 45, of Kalamazoo. Dalton was taken into custody hours earlier. The victims, shot at three different locations, had no apparent relation to the assailant.
“These weren’t sudden explosions, this was done intentionally,” Getting said during a briefing. “They appear to have been chosen at random because they were available.”
State police identified four of the six victims killed. All four were shot at a Cracker Barrel restaurant: Mary Lou Nye, 63, of Baroda, Mich.; Mary Jo Nye, 60, of Battle Creek, Mich.; Dorothy Brown, 74, of Battle Creek; and Barbara Hawthorne, 68, of Battle Creek.
Ninety minutes before the shootings began, Dalton allegedly picked up a Kalamazoo resident for an Uber ride, but drove so dangerously the man cut the journey short and called 911. Another passenger said Dalton told her he had just started as an Uber driver a few days earlier and was already getting bad reviews. An Uber spokesman confirmed that Dalton was a driver for the mobile ride company.
Getting and Kalamazoo Public Safety Chief Jeff Hadley said authorities are investigating reports from passengers that Dalton continued picking up fares before and after the shootings.
Authorities said the shootings aren’t being investigated as an act of terrorism. Kalamazoo Chief Hadley said the suspect did not have a criminal record.
“We are trying to piece together a motive,” Hadley said Sunday. “Honestly, it appears to be completely and totally random.”
Getting said Dalton, who will be arraigned Monday afternoon, likely will be charged with six counts of murder, with two counts of assault with attempt to commit murder, and six counts of felony with a firearm.
In speaking to reporters Sunday, Getting alleged Dalton shot his first victim, a woman, multiple times outside the Meadow Townhomes apartment complex at 6 p.m.
The woman, who was not identified, is “severely injured” but is expected to survive, Getting said. Paul Matyas of the Kalamazoo County Sheriff ’s Office, said the woman was with her three children, who appeared to be uninjured.
Four hours later, Dalton allegedly appeared outside the Seelye Automotive Group, a car dealership, at 10 p. m. and killed two men — an 18- year- old and an older man believed to be father and son — while they were sitting in their car.
Fifteen minutes after t hat, four people were killed at a nearby Cracker Barrel restaurant. A 14-year-old girl was also shot. Getting said she was “seriously gravely injured” and it was unknown if she is expected to survive.
Getting said video from the car dealership and restaurant helped police identify Dalton’s car in the parking lot of a downtown bar where he was arrested at 12:30 a.m. without struggle.
A semi-automatic handgun was recovered from the car, Getting said, and a search of Dalton’s home produced evidence that suggested Dalton acted alone.
An account from an Uber customer in Kalamazoo may provide clues to the suspect’s mental state on the day of the shooting. Mackenzie Waite of Kalamazoo said her fiancé was picked up by an Uber car — a silver Chevy Equinox allegedly driven by Dalton — around 4:30 p.m. for what was supposed to be a short ride costing $5. Halfway through the trip, the driver picked up a phone call on his bluetooth, Waite’s fiancé later told her. Her fiancé couldn’t hear what was said, but the driver began acting strangely.
“He blew through a stop sign, side- swiped a car, starting driving in ( and) out of the other lane of traffic,” Waite said. “My fiancé was just pleading with him to stop the entire time.”
The fiancé, Matthew Mellen, said Dalton introduced himself by a different name than his Uber listing, which he said reads “Jason.” Mellen said Dalton talked and acted normally even as he was swerving erratically and refusing to stop. “He was like asking me, ‘ Don’t you want to get to your friend’s house?’” Mellen said.
When the car at one point finally slowed down, Mellen said he jumped out and called 911. He also sent a long description of the ride to Uber.
A man who knows Dalton said he was a married father of two who never showed any signs of violence.
Gary Pardo Jr., whose parents live across the street from Dalton in Kalamazoo Township, described him as a family man who seemed fixated on cars and often worked on them.
“He loved to do things outside with his kids” like taking them for rides on his lawn tractor, Block said.