“The filing of formal charges is the first step in the judicial process”, Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Getting said in a statement.
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Dalton was charged Monday with killing six people in random shootings in Kalamazoo, Michigan, that began around 6 p.m. Saturday and ended almost five hours later.
Dalton appeared via a video link and was seen on a monitor at the Kalamazoo County court wearing glasses and dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit.
The shootings occurred in a restaurant parking lot, outside an apartment building and at a auto lot. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder ordered flags lowered for six days in honor of each of those killed and met with relatives of hospitalized victims.
Dalton was arraigned Monday on six counts of open murder, two counts of assault with intent to commit murder and eight counts of felony firearms.
Uber’s chief security officer Joe Sullivan said the ride-sharing company was “devastated” and has been working “around the clock” with police since Saturday night’s killing spree in Kalamazoo in the U.S. state of MI.
Dalton was arrested Sunday in Kalamazoo.
“The violence continued more than four hours later, when a father and son – Richard Eugene Smith, 53, and Tyler Daniel Smith, 17, both from Kalamazoo – were shot and killed at the Seelye Ford Kia auto dealership”. A spokesman in Detroit, Donald Dawkins, says there’s no indication that Jason Dalton was prohibited from possessing guns. The Associated Press could not confirm those accounts. Fuller says she has had surgeries and is improving but has a long road to recovery.
Dalton admitted “that he took people’s lives”, Kalamazoo police Det.
A prosecutor has charged a man with six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder in a series of random shootings in western MI.
Getting, the prosecutor, dismissed the idea that Dalton was seeking a particular person at the complex. He said police are still investigating a possible motive.
Uber passenger Matt Mellen said he called police to report that Dalton was driving erratically more than an hour before the shootings began.
When the judge asked Dalton if he understood the charges he’s facing, the murder suspect simply said “yes” with a small nod.
Questions about motive and Dalton’s frame of mind are “going to be the hardest to answer for anybody”, Fuller said. He expects some answers will emerge in court but doubts they will be satisfying.
Pfaff said he instantly remembered Dalton when he saw his photograph on the news Sunday.
President Barack Obama says he’s pledging all needed federal assistance in responding to a weekend shooting rampage in western MI.
President Obama called the mayor of Kalamazoo and local law enforcement to offer federal support in the investigation.
“But you got families who are shattered today”.
The New York Times said neighbors described him as quiet and polite, but that he occasionally fired a gun outside the back door of the house he shared with his wife and two children, ages 10 and 15. And here’s a hard truth: we probably lost even more Americans than that to guns this weekend alone. 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.
“We were driving through medians, driving through the lawn, speeding along, and when we came to a stop, I jumped out of the auto and ran away”, Mellen said.
Dalton had a rating of 4.73 based on a five-star system that passengers use to rate Uber drivers and “generally speaking” had received favorable reviews, Sullivan said.
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Authorities allege that Dalton shot the first victim outside of an apartment complex a little more than an hour later and that he shot seven others over the next several hours. He is expected to appear March 3 for a preliminary exam conference.
