Police in Kalamazoo are trying to find answers in a shooting spree that left six people dead and two others, including a 14-year-old girl, clinging to life. 45-year-old Jason Dalton of Kalamazoo is accused of randomly shooting a woman multiple times in the parking lot of a Richland Township apartment complex just before 6 p.m. Saturday. She survived, but was badly wounded. Police say about four hours later, he shot and killed Richard Smith and his 18-year-old son, Tyler, both of Mattawan, in the parking lot of Seelye Automotive on Stadium Drive in Kalamazoo. Just a few minutes later, Dalton is accused of pulling into the parking lot of the Cracker Barrel at South 9th Street and I-94 in Oshtemo Township and shooting five more people, four of whom died. They have been identified as 62-year-old Mary Lou Nye of Baroda; 60-year-old Mary Jo Nye, 74-year-old Dorothy Brown, and 68-year-old Barbara Hawthorne, all from Battle Creek. The 14-year-old girl was one of three passengers in Mary Jo Nye’s vehicle when the shots rang out.
Dalton’s wife and children are safe and police say they are not connected to the shootings. During the spree, Dalton was also driving customers around Kalamazoo for Uber, and company officials say he passed a background check. The suspect has no criminal record. He was arrested shortly after leaving Rugger’s Up & Under bar just outside downtown Kalamazoo at 12:40 a.m. Sunday.
There was a post on Facebook Saturday night warning people in Kalamazoo of erratic driving by an Uber driver named Jason, with Dalton’s picture accompanying the post. In it, the person said the driver was going around 80-miles-an-hour through Kalamazoo’s streets, had sideswiped at least one vehicle, and was generally driving recklessly. The person making the post also said they had called 9-1-1 in Kalamazoo County, but never saw a police car nearby. That post had been shared by dozens, including state Senator Tonya Schuitmaker of Lawton, and has since been deleted.
Dalton graduated from Comstock High School in Kalamazoo in 1989, and is the third member of his graduating class charged with murder since 2013. In the first case, John Kovach of Kalamazoo was sentenced to at least 20 years in prison after entering a guilty plea to second-degree murder charges in the shooting death of his wife, Nancy, during an argument over who was going to cook dinner. Classmate Theresa Petto of Hastings was found competent to stand trial last month in Kalamazoo County on open murder and other charges in the killing of 25-year-old Rachel Drafta in Portage. Petto is accused of killing her in a jealous rage because the victim was dating her ex-boyfriend.
This is an update to an earlier story which had indicated seven people had died. This update reflects the fact the first victim in the shooting spree survived, but with critical injuries.
