Jason Dalton: Man who shot and killed six people says Uber app made him do it

Authorities said he carried out the shootings in between driving for Uber.

According to the report released yesterday, Jason Dalton told authorities: “It feels like it is coming from the phone itself and he didn’t know how to describe that.”

Dalton is charged with murder and attempted murder in the Kalamazoo-area shootings in February, outside an apartment complex, a restaurant and at a car dealership. Two people survived.

The police report reveals that Dalton said “he is not a killer and he knows that he has killed”.

Police reports also said Dalton waed his wife that she wouldn’t be able to retu to work and their children couldn’t go back to school — and she’d understand everything by watching TV news.

A vehicle sits at a car dealership after the random shootings. Picture: Bryan Bennett via APSource:AP

Carole Dalton told investigators she was stumped by what her husband told her the night of the shootings. At that time, the first shooting had already occurred.

Jason Dalton was talking with his wife at his parents’ house, according to reports.

The car he intended to take wouldn’t start so he planned to take another that would leave her without transportation to go home and get clothing for her and their children.

Dalton told his wife that he would try to grab some things for them while he was out, but they “couldn’t go back to work anymore and the kids could not go back to school”.

When she asked him what he was talking about, Dalton replied “she would see what he was talking about on the news and that it probably wouldn’t say his name, but as soon as she saw it on the news she would know it was him”, the report said.

Dalton, charged with killing six people in a series of shootings in southweste Michigan, had waed his wife the night of the shootings that she wouldn't be able to retu to work and their children couldn't go back to school.Source:AP

The details are in documents released by the Kalamazoo County sheriff’s office, responding to a public records request by the Associated Press and others.

A judge earlier this month ordered Jason Dalton to undergo a mental competency exam.

Investigators say Dalton didn’t know the victims and they are trying to determine a motive.

SURVIVOR’S CHILLING WORDS

Keith Black revealed how he was “lucky to be alive” after catching a ride with Dalton mid-massacre.

Sara Reynolds, 25, told news.com.au last month how she and a friend took a ride with Dalton days before the shooting and felt “like I got away with my life that night”.

She said Dalton drove her and a friend to the local cinema on Valentine’s Day and he “seemed really normal, quiet”.

“I asked him what it was like to be an Uber driver and he said he’d gotten some really bad reviews recently but that they’d mostly been from drunk people he’d been running home from the bars and that maybe they didn’t like the bumpy ride or something,” Ms Reynolds told news.com.au.

“He wasn’t angry when he said it, just quietly under his breath, about them complaining he’d been driving erratically. We were in the car with him for maybe 25 minutes. It’s so hard to think about.”

Sara Reynolds says Dalton complained about receiving bad reviews from customers.Source:Twitter

THE CRIME

While no motive for the shocking crime is yet clear, police allege Dalton killed six and wounded two others in a rolling rampage that covered 20km of the city in just hours.

The first victim was a young woman who was with her three children outside an apartment block when she was shot at 6pm. She was seriously wounded.

Four hours later, the gunman opened fire at a car dealership, killing a father and his 18-year-old son.

The last and deadliest shooting came 10 to 15 minutes later at a Cracker Barrel restaurant, where four more people were killed and a 14-year-old girl was critically wounded.

Investigators also found that he continued to pick up fares in between allegedly firing at apparent strangers in the street.

Kalamazoo County prosecutor Jeff Getting said at the time the victims “appeared to be chosen at random, because they were available”.

Prosecuting lawyer Jeffrey Getting told reporters Dalton has no previous criminal record.Source:AP

MOTIVE MYSTERY

Dalton was charged with two counts of assault with intent to murder and eight weapons offences.

But investigators and police said prior to the shooting, he was under the radar.

Hadley described Dalton, a former insurance adjuster, as “an average Joe” who had no criminal record, while neighbours described him as “quiet and polite”.

One neighbour told The New York Times that Dalton occasionally fired a gun outside the back door of the house he shared with his wife and two children, age 10 and 15.

In reports last month, Uber confirmed Dalton had passed a background check before joining the company and had no criminal record.