Man charged in Michigan shootings told wife: Watch the news
A man charged with killing six people in a series of shootings in southwestern Michigan told investigators he was being controlled by an Uber app through his cellphone, police said Monday.
Authorities have said he carried out the shootings in between driving for Uber. According to the report released Monday, Jason Dalton told authorities, “it feels like it is coming from the phone itself and he didn’t know how to describe that.”
Dalton is charged with murder and attempted murder in the Kalamazoo-area shootings Feb. 20 outside an apartment complex, a restaurant and at a car lot. Two people survived.
Police said in the report Dalton said “he is not a killer and he knows that he has killed.”
Police reports also said Dalton warned his wife that she wouldn’t be able to return to work and their children couldn’t go back to school — and she’d understand everything by watching TV news.
Carole Dalton told investigators she was stumped by what her husband told her the night of the shootings. At that time, the first shooting had already occurred.
Jason Dalton was talking with his wife at his parents’ house, according to reports. The car he intended to take wouldn’t start so he planned to take another that would leave her without transportation to go home and get clothing for her and their children.
Dalton told his wife that he would try to grab some things for them while he was out, but they “couldn’t go back to work anymore and the kids could not go back to school.” When she asked him what he was talking about, Dalton replied “she would see what he was talking about on the news and that it probably wouldn’t say his name, but as soon as she saw it on the news she would know it was him,” the report said.
The details are in documents released by the Kalamazoo County sheriff’s office, responding to a public records request by The Associated Press and others.
A judge earlier this month ordered Jason Dalton to undergo a mental competency exam. He’s accused of the shootings outside a restaurant, apartment complex and car dealership.
Investigators say Dalton didn’t know the victims. They still are trying to determine a motive.
