The latest mass shooting in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in which the alleged gunman apparently provided rides as an Uber driver between shootings, has brought about a great deal of public attention directly on the issue of the background checks carried out on Uber drivers.
The parents of a teenage girl injured in a weekend shooting storm in Michigan claim that their daughter is fighting for her life. Fourteen-year-old Abigail Kopf’s parents held a press conference Monday night along with the medical director of Bronson Children’s Hospital. Dr. Aaron Lane-Davies says Abigail is on a ventilator and is in a serious condition. The couple said they have been by Abigail’s side since the weekend.
Authorities initially said Abigail had been killed. She was in the front passenger seat of a vehicle parked outside a Kalamazoo-area restaurant when she was shot once in the head. As authorities gathered together Jason Dalton’s actions, the prosecutor said he picked up Uber fares after the first shooting and probably got more riders after the subsequent shootings.
Dalton, the 45-year-old former insurance adjuster, appeared briefly in court by video link and was charged with six counts of murder. A judge denied him bail. During a talk with investigators, Dalton renounced his right against self-incrimination and confessed his role in the Saturday night shootings, Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting said.
Dalton admitted “that he took people’s lives,” Kalamazoo police Det. Cory Ghiringhelli told the court. The murder charges carry a mandatory life sentence. Michigan does not have the death penalty.
Matt Mellen told Kalamazoo television station WWMT that he hailed a ride around 4:30 p.m. Saturday. He said driver Jason Dalton introduced himself as “Me-Me” and had a dog in the backseat.
“We were driving through medians, driving through the lawn, speeding along, and when we came to a stop, I jumped out of the car and ran away,” Mellen said. He said he called police and that when he got to his friend’s house, his fiancée posted a warning to friends on Facebook.Police and prosecutors recognized a motive may never be fully known.
“This is a terrible moment in the community. We face violence like any other community does but nothing on this scale,” said Kalamazoo County prosecutor Jeff Getting. “We’ve lost six people, we have a 14-year-old girl clinging to life, we have another victim who is recovering, thankfully, we have a high school that’s lost a classmate. And no one understands why it happened.”
An Uber passenger said he called police to report that Dalton was driving turbulently more than an hour before the shootings began. Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller said Uber is cooperating with law enforcement officials, and he believes the company will “help us fill in some timeline gaps.”
Investigators are particularly interested in communication between Dalton and Uber, as well as customers he might have driven, the sheriff said. Uber said Dalton passed a background check and became a driver on Jan. 25. He had given about 100 rides, the company said.
Be the first to comment on "Details only deepen mystery surrounding Kalamazoo shootings"