Kalamazoo Deadly Shooting Spree

Lauren Pennino

This past Saturday in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Uber driver Jason Dalton went on a shooting spree leaving six people dead and two people critically injured. This shooting spree was completely random, and began around 5:42 P.M. on Saturday. A second shooting, occurring at around 10:08 P.M., took the lives of two people. The third outburst killed a total of four people at around 10:24 P.M. The suspect was eventually arrested around 12:40 A.M. Sunday, February 21st. Uber driver Jason Dalton passed all the background checks that were required prior to being hired as an Uber driver.

Drivers had reported riding with him prior to these shootings and had nothing negative to say about him. In fact, Dalton received top ratings from most of his customers before Saturday. Officials of the smartphone-based taxi service reported that Dalton had achieved a customer satisfaction rating of 4.73 on a scale of 5. Uber officials stated that there was nothing that indicated Dalton to be a threat or dangerous. Police enforcement are currently hard at work, desperately searching for any kind of motive in this weekend’s shooting. It has been reported that Dalton has no history of mental health issues, and the gun used for these shootings was legally purchased.

Jason Dalton is currently being charged with six counts of murder, two counts of assault with intent to commit murder and eight firearm violations. He showed no emotion in court as the judge read the charges against him. The judge denied bail to Dalton. The question that will continue to ring so violently in thousands of peoples ears is: Why did this gunman do this?