Right after the 2016 Kalamazoo shootings, the police identified and arrested Jason Brian Dalton. At the time of his arrest, he was 45 years old. Furthermore, he was driving a black Chevrolet HHR. After getting arrested, it did not take Dalton to confess to his crimes. However, he stated that the reason he went on a shooting spree was due to his Uber mobile app. He said that the symbol looked a lot like the Order of the Eastern Star and he could not control whatever he was doing.
Jason Brian Dalton was raised in Greenfield, Indiana. He attended middle school and high school in Charlottesville and then graduated from Comstock High School in 1989. He went on to attend Kalamazoo Valley Community College and graduated in 1992 with an associate degree in law enforcement. However, he did not enter his college’s police academy program. In 1995, he married his Carole, with whom he had two children.
Jason Brian Dalton’s victims were Tyler D. Smith (17), Richard E. Smith (53), Mary Jo Nye (60), Mary Lou Nye (62), Dorothy Brown (74), and Barbara Hawthorne (68). Tyler and Richard were a son and father-duo, while the rest of the women were friends.
According to the MDOC Department of Corrections website, Dalton is currently being held at Oaks Correctional Facility. In 2019, ABC 20/20 released an episode titled “The Deadly Ride”. This episode covered Dalton’s crime and everything that transpired on the day of the tragedy.
The official synopsis of The Deadly Ride read,
“The case of Jason Dalton, a former Uber driver, who terrorized the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan, for eight hours on Feb. 20, 2016, killing six people and seriously injuring two others.”
Jason Brian Dalton now: How many murders was he convicted of & what is his prison sentence?
On February 22, 2016, Dalton was charged with six counts of murder, and two counts of assault Furthermore, he was even charged with intent to commit murder, and eight counts of using a firearm during a felony. After pleading guilty to all counts on January 7, 2019, his sentencing took place on February 5, 2019. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
After this tragic incident, according to The Washington Post, an Uber spokesman released a statement that said, “We are horrified and heartbroken at the senseless violence in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Our hearts and prayers are with the families of the victims of this devastating crime and those recovering from injuries. We have reached out to the police to help with their investigation in any way that we can. Calls were made for Uber to improve its background check system.”
Why was Tiana Carruthers called a hero?
One of the survivors of this brutal attack is a woman named Tiana Carruthers. According to KARE 11, she got shot several times. However, many people called her a hero because she put herself between the shooter and a group of kids.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Carruthers’ grandmother Phoenix Windwalker stated that her granddaughter was a hero. Windwalker said, The children were saved. Her 7-year-old daughter saw her get shot, along with her niece and the three other children. She saved the children by doing what she did, which was really courageous for her and I’m proud of her, but I feel so, so sorry for her. It’s just not fair.”
Furthermore, Tammy George, one of the parents of the children Carruthers saved said that four bullets ended up in her bedroom closet.
George said,
“Some hit the boards, four actually went through our bedroom wall closet. We had three kids in the room at the time. They thank God they were OK.”
At the time of this incident, Tiana Carruthers was 25 years old.
