Authorities search the home of Kalamazoo shooting suspect Jason Dalton Feb. 21, 2016.
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The Michigan Uber driver charged with murdering six people switched vehicles after sideswiping a auto at the start of the shooting spree, authorities said on Tuesday, adding that they hoped his phone would help establish a motive for the killings.
A prosecutor said Monday that Dalton picked up fares for the ride-hailing service after the first shooting Saturday that left a woman seriously wounded and probably got more riders after the two subsequent shootings that proved fatal. Dalton was refused bond at the arraignment hearing and was told to return to the Kalamazoo County Building for his next court appearance on March 3.
Dalton is also the suspect in the deadly shooting of a father and son around 10 p.m. Saturday at the Seelye Ford KIA Dealership in Kalamazoo, state police said.
Saturday’s attacks began outside the Meadows apartment complex on the eastern edge of Kalamazoo County, where 25-year-old Tiana Carruthers was shot multiple times but survived. More killings quickly followed in a parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant, where Dalton fired at four elderly women: Mary Lou Nye, Mary Jo Nye, Dorothy Brown, and Barbara Hawthorne. Uber says on Saturday they did receive several passenger calls about erratic driving from Dalton and a 911 call from one of them. “He wouldn’t stop”, Mellen told WWMT.
The open murder charges allow prosecutors to decide later after additional investigation whether the charges should be first- or second-degree murder, manslaughter or a variety of those charges.
They said Jason Dalton, 45, had been a driver for about a month, had given roughly 100 rides and was given a 4.73-out-of-5 rating by his passengers. Four of them died.
Police have not provided a motive. Abigail Kopf, a 14-year-old girl, remains hospitalized in critical condition.
In February 2015, Uber rolled out an SOS button as a pilot program in India after a driver brutally raped a female passenger. Anyone found to be in violation of the policy may be prohibited from using or driving for the service.
Earlier, a federal agent said many long guns and handguns were seized from Dalton’s home.
The owner of Ottawa cab company Coventry Connections said his drivers must complete a five-week taxi course at Algonquin College, and are vetted in person before they’re hired.
They also expressed sympathy for the family of the alleged gunman.
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Jamieson said Dalton worked as an auto body technician and then an independent insurance adjuster, but before that, Dalton “intended to go into law enforcement”.
