Uber driver suspected in Michigan shooting spree, 6 dead

KALAMAZOO, Mich., Feb. 21 (UPI) -- A 45-year-old man is in custody after a Saturday night shooting spree that left six people dead and two injured, police said.

Kalamazoo police at 12:40 a.m. Sunday pulled over a Chevrolet HHR linked to the shootings and arrested Jason Brian Dalton, 45, of Kalamazoo. The ride-sharing company Uber said Dalton is a driver with the company. Police said they are trying to determine if he picked up passengers Saturday night.

"Jason Brian Dalton had passed a background check, and was a driver-partner with Uber," Uber's chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, said. "We have reached out to the police to help with their investigation in any way that we can."

Public Safety Chief Jeff Hadley said Dalton was being questioned, the Journal-News reported. Investigators said he has no criminal history.

Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas said police found semiautomatic handgun in Dalton's vehicle when he was stopped. He did not resist arrest.

Records show Dalton was booked into the Kalamazoo County jail around 4:40 a.m. Sunday and is facing two homicide charges related to the shootings. Kalamazoo County prosecutor Jeffrey Getting said Dalton would likely face one murder count for each of the slain victims and assault charges for two survivors.

Police were searching Dalton's home around 5 a.m. Sunday and say he picked up and dropped off passengers between shootings.

"We got about a mile from my house, and he got a telephone call. After that call, he started driving erratically, running stop signs," Matt Mellen, one of Dalton's passengers told CNN affiliate WWMT. "We were kind of driving through medians, driving through the lawn speeding along and then finally, once he came to a stop, I jumped out of the car and ran away."

"He was surprisingly calm, I was freaking out," Mellen said.

The shooting investigation began about 5:45 p.m. Saturday when police said a woman at the Meadows Townhomes was shot in the Richland Township parking lot, NBC News reported.

Matyas said the woman was outside with her three children when she was shot and severely injured but is expected to survive.

Multiple shots also were fired at the Seelye Ford dealership in Kalamazoo where several people were hit. Three hours later, police said, gun fire rang out at the Seelye Kia dealership, also in Kalamazoo, where three people were shot. A father and his 18-year-old son died and a third victim was in critical condition early Sunday.

At about 10:20 p.m., officers were called to a nearby Cracker Barrel restaurant parking lot where four women were killed and a 14-year old girl was left critically injured. Police say Dalton had a brief conversation with people in two different cars before opening fire.

One car towed from the Cracker Barrel had two rear windows shot out and a bullet hole through the driver's side windshield. A second vehicle had a driver's side window and a passenger window shot out.

Police have not released the names of any victims, pending family notification.