2016 Kalamazoo shootings

Shootings

The shootings began around 5:42 p.m. EST when a woman was shot repeatedly in a Richland Township apartment parking lot, but survived. According to the woman, she was confronted by a man in a vehicle with a German Shepherd-type dog sitting in the back. The driver asked her if she was another person by a different name. When she replied that she was not, the man turned his car around and fired repeatedly at her, and she survived by playing dead. Ten shell casings were recovered at the scene of the first shooting. Several children, including the woman's daughter, were present at the scene of the shooting, but they escaped unharmed through her efforts.

About four and a half hours later, the shooter arrived at a Kia dealership in Kalamazoo, where he shot and killed two people. According to a witness, the shooter approached the victims, talked to them, and then opened fire immediately afterwards. About fifteen minutes later, a third shooting occurred outside a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Texas Township, where four people seated inside two vehicles were killed and one other person was wounded. The shooter reportedly talked to the victims at Cracker Barrel before shooting them. Police believe none of the victims at the separate scenes were connected. At least 30 rounds were said to have been fired during the shootings.

Suspect

Jason Brian Dalton (born June 22, 1970) was identified by police as the suspect in the shootings. Police detained Dalton on February 21 at around 12:40 a.m. EST without incident, after pulling over his vehicle, a black Chevrolet HHR that matched the description of the getaway vehicle in the shootings.

After his arrest, Dalton confessed to committing the shootings. However, he blamed his actions on his Uber mobile app, claiming that its symbol resembled that of the Order of the Eastern Star, and that it took over his body during the events after he pressed the button of a new app resembling the Devil when it abruptly popped up. He later said that he was no longer experiencing these problems. Police indicated that he had no known criminal history or mental health record.

Personal life

Dalton was raised in Greenfield, Indiana, and went to middle and high school in nearby Charlottesville. He also attended Comstock High School in Kalamazoo, graduating in 1989. He also attended Kalamazoo Valley Community College and graduated in December 1992 with an associate degree in law enforcement, though he did not enroll in the school's police academy program.

According to an old friend, Dalton had tried to seek a job as a police officer in Michigan or in nearby states, but was unable to, and had no interest in moving far away to find a police job. Instead, he studied auto-body work at WyoTech in Laramie, Wyoming, and found work at a BMW office in New Jersey at one point. This allowed him to get jobs as a mechanic and then an insurance adjuster.

Dalton worked as a driver for Uber during the two weeks preceding the killing spree and purportedly took fares between shooting incidents. An Uber representative stated that Dalton had passed company background checks.

A former coworker of Dalton's at the insurance company recalled seeing Dalton yell at a customer over the phone, slam the phone down, and pace around the desk angrily afterwards. Dalton had previously been counseled about his professionalism towards customers. In an interview, another customer reported an encounter with Dalton in which he called him back over to reexamine a vehicle for damage Dalton missed in his appraisal. He described Dalton as unprofessional and prone to anger.

At the time of the shootings, Dalton was married and had two children. The family was living in nearby Cooper Township. He was generally described as a "nice guy" and a "good family man", though it was reported that he had been acting depressed in the days before the shootings occurred.

Before and during the shootings

In the week preceding the shootings, Dalton had been questioned by deputies with the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office, who were investigating a series of shootings along Interstate 94 and Interstate 69. Although Dalton traveled in the area where the shootings occurred and had been the insurance adjuster for a damaged sheriff patrol vehicle, he was cleared of any involvement.

Neighbors said Dalton had been acting paranoid before the shootings occurred. Hours before the shootings, he went to three different gun stores with a friend. At one of them, he purchased a black jacket with pockets designed to conceal a handgun. Though the store owner said Dalton was in "good spirits" during the visit, the friend who accompanied Dalton said that he was a "little more quiet than normal" during the trip. Dalton was an occasional customer at the same store, but never purchased a firearm there. He was wearing the jacket at the time of his arrest, along with a bulletproof vest. Dalton told police that he bought the vest for his son, who was an explorer for the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office.

Dalton was reportedly acting irrationally and driving erratically before the first shooting, according to a woman who said in a Facebook post that her fiancé had gotten a ride from Dalton late Saturday afternoon. She explained that her fiancé was picked up by an Uber driver named Jason, who sideswiped a car, was running through traffic signals at high speeds, and was weaving through traffic. She also posted an Uber-supplied photo of the man, which matched the police mugshot of Dalton. She also said he was driving a Chevrolet Equinox, which fit with Kalamazoo Gazette photos later showing police searching an Equinox. The woman said in her post that 9-1-1 was called "but surprisingly they didn't seem all that concerned."

Investigators believe that Dalton was drawn to the scene of the first shooting by a botched request for an Uber ride. At 5:15 p.m., he received a call for a ride originating from a Richland Township apartment. However, the requester texted Dalton moments later with a correction of the address, which would have led him to another location in the same area. A witness later reported seeing an Equinox driving "so aggressively" towards the Richland Township apartment, at one point cutting him off at a southbound curve and risking a head-on collision; he later recognized Dalton on the news as the Equinox's driver. Shortly after 6:00 p.m., approximately twenty minutes after the first shooting occurred, Dalton called the requester, saying that he hadn't responded to her text and that he could not do the ride because "something had come up".

Sometime after the first shooting, Dalton allegedly met with his wife and children at his parent's home in Comstock Township. There, he switched his Equinox with the Chevrolet HHR he would later be arrested in. He explained to his wife that the Equinox had been sideswiped by a disgruntled taxi driver in a Chevrolet Impala, who fired a gunshot at him due to rage at having his business taken away by Uber. He also provided his wife with a 9 mm Taurus handgun, telling her it was not safe to be at the house without it. In addition, he instructed her not to go to work and not to take their children to school. After leaving, he allegedly returned to his house and switched handguns. Later that night, at 8:26 p.m., Dalton called his wife and told her not to call her parents.

Weapons

A 9 mm Walther P99 semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine was recovered from inside Dalton's car. Police believe that the Walther P99 was used during the last two shootings, while a 9 mm Glock 19 semi-automatic handgun was used in the first shooting; Dalton reportedly switched guns after the Glock malfunctioned while firing. Among other items, another fifteen firearms (eleven long guns and four handguns) were recovered from his home.

Dalton purchased the Glock from a Oshtemo Township gun store on June 12, 2015. He then purchased the Walther from the same store later that year, on August 22. However, he did not have a license to carry a concealed weapon. The Glock was among the four handguns recovered from Dalton's home.

Victims

The first people killed were Tyler D. Smith (17), and his father Richard E. Smith (53), who were both killed at the Kia car dealership. Four women – Mary Jo Nye (60), Mary Lou Nye (62), Dorothy Brown (74), and Barbara Hawthorne (68) – were killed at the Cracker Barrel. All four women were friends, and Mary Jo Nye and Mary Lou Nye were sisters-in-law.

Abigail Kopf (14) suffered several injuries at Cracker Barrel, including a gunshot wound to the head. At the time of her shooting, she was accompanying her grandmother, Cracker Barrel victim Barbara Hawthorne. She was initially presumed dead, but later confirmed to have survived. As of February 23, she remained on a ventilator and in critical condition, though she was breathing on her own by February 28 and was able to open her eyes by March 3. Kopf was discharged from Bronson Methodist Hospital on March 8 and transferred to the Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her skull was damaged during the Cracker Barrel shooting, and she underwent surgery at Bronson Methodist Hospital to replace the missing portion of her skull. She had to undergo surgery again due to an infection induced by her previous surgery. Kopf was discharged on July 26 and allowed to return home, but had to undergo surgery yet again on August 17 due to a related skin infection. The surgery was successfully completed two days later.

Tiana Carruthers (25) was the first victim to be shot in the shootings, being shot four times in the left arm, legs, and back, but survived. Her shooting occurred in the parking lot of an apartment in Richland Township. Her arm had to be surgically reconstructed as a result of the shooting. She will undergo two further surgeries on her legs due to a medical setback.

Legal proceedings

On February 22, Dalton was arraigned on sixteen charges including six counts of murder, two counts of assault with intent to commit murder, and eight counts of using a firearm during the commission of a felony. He was to reappear in court on March 10 for a preliminary examination hearing. On March 3, he was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine his competence to stand trial. He reappeared in court on April 22, where it was ruled by the Michigan Center for Forensic Psychiatry that he was found competent to stand trial. Eusebio Solis, a former Calhoun County Chief Assistant Prosecutor and a former Calhoun County Commissioner, was appointed to represent Dalton in court.

Dalton appeared on May 20 for a preliminary hearing to determine if there was enough evidence to try him on the charges. During the hearing, Dalton made a verbal outburst and interrupted Tiana Carruthers, the first victim attacked in the shootings, while she was testifying. He reportedly made "somewhat indecipherable statements" and caused Carruthers to cry, forcing a recess to be called and Dalton was restrained and removed from the courtroom by sheriff's deputies. The hearing resumed later in the day, with Dalton participating via video hookup from jail.

On June 6, following a pretrial conference, Dalton's attorneys announced their plans to present a legal insanity defense for their client. He will undergo a psychiatric evaluation conducted by the Michigan Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Saline, a process that is expected to be carried out over the next 60 days. His trial was tentatively expected to start in late September or early October. A status conference was tentatively set for August 15. On August 12, the conference was postponed to September 30, with the Kalamazoo County chief assistant prosecutor saying that the evaluation has not yet been finished. On that day, the conference was delayed again because Dalton's psychological report was not yet finished.

Reactions

After the shootings, Governor Rick Snyder expressed his condolences on Twitter, writing, "The families of Kalamazoo victims are in our thoughts today. Grateful to @KalPublicSafety @MichStatePolice @KzooSheriff for a quick arrest".

Joe Sullivan, Uber's Chief Security Officer, released a statement reading, "We are horrified and heartbroken at the senseless violence in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Our hearts and prayers are with the families of the victims of this devastating crime and those recovering from injuries. We have reached out to the police to help with their investigation in any way that we can." Calls were made for Uber to improve its background check system.

In response to the shootings, President Barack Obama praised law enforcement agencies and pledged federal support for the ongoing investigation.

Following the shootings, there was public outcry when it was revealed there was no active-shooter alert that could be sent to Kalamazoo-area residents and students at Western Michigan University. An editorial calling for an emergency alert system for such high-profile incidents was published by Michigan Live six days after the shootings. In March, legislation for a statewide warning system was introduced. This warning system would disseminate information on an active-shooter situation or other emergency and protect residents. It involved local law enforcement agencies sending the information to the Michigan State Police, which was then responsible for sending text messages of warning using geolocation technology, similar to the AMBER Alert system. On May 10, the Michigan House of Representatives approved the legislation. On June 9, the Michigan Senate approved the legislation and sent it to Governor Snyder for consideration. Snyder signed the legislation on June 24.