2016 Kalamazoo shootings

Did You Know?

• President Barack Obama praised law enforcement and pledged federal support for the investigation.
• Legislation for a statewide warning system for active-shooter situations was introduced in March following the shootings.

Events

Hours before the shootings, Jason Brian Dalton visited three gun stores with a friend, purchasing a black jacket with pockets designed to conceal a handgun. The store owner said Dalton was in "good spirits," but the friend noted he was "a little more quiet than normal." Dalton was an occasional customer at that store but had never bought a firearm there. Shortly after 4:00 p.m., Matt Mellen requested an Uber pickup and was driven by Dalton in a silver Chevrolet Equinox.

During the drive, Dalton received a call and then allegedly "started driving crazy," entering oncoming traffic, driving through a median, ignoring a stop sign, and sideswiping a Ford Taurus. Mellen jumped out at a stop sign and called 9-1-1, providing the license plate number. Multiple other 911 calls before the incidents were ignored. At 4:34, Dalton returned home, then called his wife asking for keys to their Chevy HHR.

They agreed to meet at his parents' residence, but Dalton accepted another Uber pickup at 5:15 from a woman wanting him to pick up her boyfriend at a Richland Township apartment complex. The shootings began around 5:42 EST when a woman was shot four times in the parking lot of that complex. She survived by playing dead. A man in a vehicle with a German Shepherd-type dog in the back had asked if she was someone else, then turned and fired about fifteen rounds; ten shell casings were recovered. Five children, including the woman's daughter, escaped unharmed.

Perpetrator

Jason Brian Dalton was born on June 22, 1970. Police detained him on February 21 at around 12:40 a.m. EST without incident after pulling over a black Chevrolet HHR matching the getaway vehicle description. After arrest, Dalton confessed to the shootings but blamed his actions on his Uber mobile app, claiming its symbol resembled that of the Order of the Eastern Star and that it took over his body after he pressed a button of a new app resembling the Devil.

He later said he no longer experienced these problems. Police indicated he had no known criminal history or mental health record. Dalton was raised in Greenfield, Indiana, attended middle and high school in Charlottesville, and graduated from Comstock High School in Kalamazoo in 1989. He earned an associate degree in law enforcement from Kalamazoo Valley Community College in December 1992 but did not enroll in the police academy.

He married Carole in 1995; they had two children aged 10 and 15 at the time of the spree. Carole started divorce proceedings the week after the killings. The family lived in Cooper Township. Dalton was generally described as a "nice guy" and "good family man," though he had been acting depressed in the days before and neighbors said he was acting paranoid right before.

An old friend said Dalton had tried to become a police officer but was unable to and did not want to move far. He studied auto-body work at WyoTech in Laramie, Wyoming, and worked at a BMW office in New Jersey, later becoming a mechanic and insurance adjuster. He had driven for Uber for two weeks before the spree and had passed company background checks.

Victims

The initial fatalities occurred at a Kia dealership, where 17-year-old Tyler D. Smith and his 53-year-old father, Richard E. Smith, were killed. Later, at a Cracker Barrel, four women died: Mary Jo Nye, 60; Mary Lou Nye, 62; Dorothy Brown, 74; and Barbara Hawthorne, 68. The women were friends, with Mary Jo and Mary Lou being sisters-in-law. Fourteen-year-old Abigail Kopf was also at the Cracker Barrel with Barbara Hawthorne, a close friend she called her grandmother.

Kopf suffered multiple injuries, including a gunshot wound to the head, and was initially believed dead but survived. She remained on a ventilator in critical condition until late February, when she began breathing on her own and could open her eyes by early March. After being discharged from Bronson Methodist Hospital, she was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital. Her damaged skull required surgery to replace a missing portion, followed by a second surgery for an infection and a third for a skin infection, which was completed successfully in August.

Tiana Carruthers, 25, was the first person shot, struck four times in her left arm, legs, and back. She survived, but her arm needed surgical reconstruction. In August 2016, she had two additional surgeries on her legs due to a medical complication.

Legal proceedings

On February 22, 2016, Dalton faced a court arraignment on sixteen charges, which included six counts of murder, two counts of assault with intent to commit murder, and eight counts of firearm use during a felony. A psychiatric evaluation was ordered on March 3 to assess his competence for trial. By April 22, the Michigan Center for Forensic Psychiatry had determined he was competent. Former Calhoun County Chief Assistant Prosecutor and Commissioner Eusebio Solis was appointed as his defense attorney.

During a preliminary hearing on May 20, Dalton interrupted victim Tiana Carruthers’ testimony with a verbal outburst, causing her to cry and leading to a recess. Deputies restrained and removed him, and he later participated via video link from jail. On June 6, his lawyers announced an insanity defense. A psychiatric evaluation by the Michigan Center for Forensic Psychiatry took place over the next 60 days.

The trial was initially set for late September or early October but faced multiple delays. Jury selection was scheduled for January 3, 2019, with opening statements on January 7. On that day, Dalton pleaded guilty to all charges. He was sentenced on February 5, 2019, to life in prison without parole. He is now held at the Oaks Correctional Facility.