Crime & Safety
UPDATED: Accused Kalamazoo Uber Shooter Charged with 6 Counts Murder
President Obama said Monday the Kalamazoo shootings are another clarion call for gun control.
This story has been updated.
KALAMAZOO, MI – The Uber driver accused in a shooting spree that killed six and injured two Saturday is due in court Monday, where he is expected to be arraigned on six counts of open murder, two counts of attempted murder and multiple eight counts of felony firearm.
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Michigan State Police took Jason Brian Dalton, 45, of Kalamazoo, into custody at 12:40 a.m. Sunday, but haven’t released a motive in the hours-long rampage that terrorized the western Michigan town.
During the arraignment, a federal agent said authorities seized many long guns and handguns from Dalton’s residence. There’s no evidence that he was prohibited from possessing them, according to an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is is assisting state and local police in the investigation.
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Bail was denied.
Dalton was charged with murder and attempted murder Monday in a series of shootings over the weekend in the Kalamazoo area. Two people who survived are in the hospital.
The shootings occurred in a restaurant parking lot, outside an apartment building and at a car lot.
Hours before the expected arraignment, President Barack Obama said at a gathering of the nation’s governors at the White House that the shooting that “shattered” another community and was another clarion call for gun safety legislation.
“On Saturday, another one of our communities was terrorized by gun violence,” Obama told the winter meeting of the National Governor’s Association at the White House Monday. “I have got to assume that all of you are just as tired as I am of seeing this stuff happen in your states.”
The Associated Press reported that Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting filed the charges Monday.
Also Monday, Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller said Uber is cooperating with law enforcement officials and will “help us fill in some timeline gaps.”
An Uber passenger reported to police that Dalton was driving erratically about an hour before he allegedly began his shooting rampage. Investigators are interested in learning more about communication that may have taken place between Uber and any customers Dalton may have driven Saturday.
The random shooting incidents began around 6 p.m. Saturday at an apartment complex. The second shooting occurred at a Kia dealership around 10 p.m., and 15 minutes later the gunman fired at a Cracker Barrel. All three incidents took place in parking lots.
In a news conference Sunday, Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting said it didn’t appear that the victims were targeted or connected to one another in any way.
“How do you go and tell the families of these victims that they weren’t targeted for any reason other than they were there to be a target?” he said.
Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas told reporters Dalton started a brief conversation with people in two other cars at the Cracker Barrel parking lot before fatally shooting four women. A 14-year-old girl, who was the front seat passenger in one of the cars, is in critical condition.
Michigan State Police identified the victims fatally shot at the Cracker Barrel as Mary Lou Nye, 62, of Baroda, Mich., Mary Jo Nye, 60, of Battle Creek, Mich., Dorothy Brown, 74, of Battle Creek, Mich. and Barbara Hawthorne, 68, of Battle Creek, Mich.
(Feroze Dhanoa of the Patch national desk contributed to this report.)
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