Man charged in Kalamazoo shootings said rideshare app Uber told him to kill people

KALAMAZOO, Mich., March 14 (UPI) -- A man who provided transportation in Michigan for customers of the rideshare app Uber -- who police say shot six people to death and wounded two others last month -- reportedly told investigators the app itself is what triggered the rampage.

Jason Dalton was arrested and charged with the Feb. 20 shootings in Kalamazoo, where officials said he targeted various people at multiple locations while he was on-duty driving for Uber.

During interviews with detectives hours after the attacks, Dalton, 45, supposedly told police that the Uber app on his cellphone actually instructed him to carry out the shootings -- and even gave him directions to various locations where the potential victims could be found.

Dalton also reportedly told police he was planning to engage in a shootout with officers, but ultimately decided against it because the Uber app told him to leave the authorities alone.

The accused gunman also claimed that an icon resembling the devil appeared on his cellphone when he opened the Uber app, and told officers "that's when all the problems started."

"Dalton described the devil figure as a horned cow head or something like that, and then it would give you an assignment and it would literally take over your whole body," according to police reports obtained by the Detroit Free Press Monday.

"I asked Dalton what made him get his gun tonight and he said the Uber app made him," one investigator wrote in the reports.

"Dalton said it would take you over to the point that you are like a puppet," one report stated. "Dalton said that he was afraid that maybe he could've killed his family."

He faces six counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and eight counts of illegally using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Dalton had been driving with Uber for less than a month when the shootings occurred, but reportedly passed a background check performed by the company as part of the screening process.

Also Monday, authorities released police dashboard camera footage of Dalton's arrest.