Uber Driver Blamed for Killing Six May Have Picked up Fares During Shooting Spree

State police on Sunday identified four of the six victims killed. All four were shot at a Cracker Barrel restaurant: Mary Lou Nye, 63, of Baroda, Michigan; Mary Jo Nye, 60, of Battle Creek; Dorothy Brown, 74, of Battle Creek; and Barbara Hawthorne, 68, of Battle Creek.

Ninety minutes before his shooting spree began, Dalton picked up a Kalamazoo resident for an Uber ride, but drove so dangerously that 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 multiple reports from passengers that Dalton continued picking up fares before and after the shootings.

According to Kalamazoo Chief Hadley, the suspect in Saturday’s shooting did not have a criminal record.

“We are trying to piece together a motive,” Hadley said on Sunday morning. “Honestly, it appears to be completely and totally random.”

Getting said Dalton, who was to be arraigned on Monday afternoon, will likely 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 early Sunday, Getting said Dalton shot his first victim, a woman, multiple times outside the Meadow Townhomes apartment complex at 6pm on Saturday.

This woman, who was not identified, is “severely injured” but is expected to survive, Getting said.

Four hours later, Dalton appeared outside the Seelye Automotive Group, a car dealership, at 10 pm 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 that, Dalton opened fire at a nearby Cracker Barrel restaurant, killing four people. 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 12.30am Sunday 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 Dalton’s mental state on the day of the shooting. In a phone interview, Mackenzie Waite of Kalamazoo said her fiance was picked up by an Uber car - a silver Chevy Equinox driven by Dalton - around 4.30 p.m. for what was supposed to be a short ride costing US$5. Halfway through the trip, the driver picked up a phone call on his bluetooth, Waite’s fiance later told her. Her fiance 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 fiance was just pleading with him to stop the entire time.”

The fiance 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 immediately called 911. He also sent a long description of the ride to Uber.

As part of the process of using Uber’s mobile app, her fiance had received a picture of the driver, which he sent to the authorities.

Waite and her fiance were so alarmed that Waite posted a warning on Facebook along with a picture of the driver. “He was acting completely normal throughout all this erratic driving!! … Hoping this man will be arrested or hospitalised soon if he has a medical condition causing his behaviour,” she said in the post.

An Uber spokesman, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the record, said Dalton had passed a background check required for drivers employed by the company.

“We are horrified and heartbroken at the senseless violence in Kalamazoo, Michigan,” Uber’s chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, said in a statement. “ We have reached out to the police to help with their investigation in any way that we can.”

Neighbors said there was nothing unusual about Dalton, who lived outside Kalamazoo with his wife and two teenage children. James Bloch, who resided next door to the family for 17 years, was friendly with Dalton, who he said enjoyed working on cars in his spare time.

“The guy must have flipped,” Bloch said. “He never was in that state of mind ever. There was no sign of depression.”