by Donald Wood
Last updated: 11:00 AM ET, Mon February 22, 2016
On Saturday, an Uber driver in Kalamazoo, Michigan, went on a shooting spree that left six dead and several more seriously injured in between picking up and dropping off customers.
According to Kevin Conlon and Nick Valencia of CNN.com, the alleged shooter is 45-year-old Jason Brian Dalton-who had no previous arrest record and was unknown to police-that authorities say was looking for fares even after the final murder in a seven-hour shooting spree.
Uber told CNN that Dalton was a driver for their company and that he had cleared a background check before being hired. Michigan State Police believe the shootings began at 5:42 p.m. local time when a woman was shot multiple times in an apartment complex parking lot. The victim was with her three children when she was shot, and she is expected to survive.
Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeffrey Getting went on to say that four hours later a man and his son were murdered while car shopping. Then, Dalton allegedly pulled into a restaurant parking lot and fired his semiautomatic handgun at two cars, killing four people and injuring a 14-year-old girl.
Two hours after the final shooting, the police who took Dalton into custody described him as even tempered. Authorities are calling the killings deliberate, and they believe they would have continued if he had not been arrested.
The scariest part of the incident is that it appears completely random. Police have little evidence to suggest why Dalton took the lives of so many people, and the murders have shaken the Kalamazoo County community.
Police believe Dalton acted alone and that the crimes were not related to terrorism. He will be formally charged with six counts of murder, two counts of assault with intent to commit murder and a litany of other charges Monday.
Uber Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan released an official statement on the incident:
"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."
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