Suspect In Kalamazoo Shooting Spree Expected In Court

A background check on Jason Dalton, the 45-year-old charged with the murders, showed no criminal record.

Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Chief Jeff Hadley tells The Associated Press that the suspect arrested early Sunday in Kalamazoo is 45-year-old Jason Dalton of Kalamazoo County.

Prosecutors allege Dalton drove from one place to another, randomly shooting victims over a five-hour period on 19 February.

Sullivan also stressed that until Saturday, Uber had no reason to believe that anything was amiss.

“The perpetrator had no criminal record, and if there is nothing on someone’s criminal record, then no background check is going to raise a flag”. It’s also facing a separate a lawsuit by district attorneys in San Francisco and Los Angeles, who alleged that Uber’s checks failed to prevent the company from hiring several felons. Uber, meanwhile, instituted a policy a year ago that prohibits driver and passengers from possessing firearms.

He faces eighteen charges, including six counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and eight weapons charges. Uber was briefly banned from operating in New Delhi after that incident.

We checked with the Better Business Bureau, where Uber is given an “F.” In what has become a grim tradition, President Barack Obama on Monday decried the nation’s epidemic of gun-related deaths and said more needs to be done to keep guns away from “dangerous people”. Dalton said “yes” when the judge asked if he understood the charges against him. That can discriminate against potential drivers. But “a background check is just that, it does not foresee the future. It does not foresee the future”, Davis said. Uber said it was co-operating with police. Another Uber passenger, Matthew Mellen, told CNN he rode in Dalton’s Equinox and that Dalton seemed normal until he received a call on his cellphone, at which point he began driving erratically, running stoplights and a stop sign and sideswiping another vehicle.

“I kind of jokingly said to the driver, “You’re not the shooter, are you?’ He gave me some sort of a ‘no” response… shook his head”, the station quoted the man, whom it identified only as Derek, as saying.

Investigations into complaints of erratic driving do not result in any action until the driver is contacted for their account of the events, Sullivan said. But Uber officials would not say whether anyone at the company spoke to Dalton, deferring to law enforcement.

For Harry Campbell, an Uber driver and blogger on http://therideshareguy.com, the fact that passengers complained about Dalton was disconcerting.

“He would go a month without mowing his lawn but was very meticulous with his cars”, Pardo said. He had given about 100 rides, the company said.

Because the suspect in the Kalamazoo shootings was an Uber driver, some are now asking just how safe is ride-sharing service.

State police say four of the victims were inside a Chevrolet Cruze and the fifth victim – Mary Lou Nye – was alone in an Oldsmobile minivan nearby.

Customers appeared to sticking with the service, and backing the company’s safety processes.

University of Ottawa professor Gilles Levasseur has done extensive research into Uber.

Executive Director Belinda Tate says in a statement that the museum wants to “open our doors to share the peace and beauty of the museum”.

“A background check can’t predict the future. But at the same time maybe they need to take it another step forward”, Cardwell said about background checks.