On the night of February 20, 2016, a spree shooting took place at an apartment complex, a Kia car dealership, and outside a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.
After he was found competent to stand trial, Dalton's lawyers planned a legal insanity defense for their client.
[3] Shortly after 4:00 p.m. on February 20, 2016, Matt Mellen requested an Uber pickup to drive him over to a friend's house.
On the way, however, Dalton accepted another pickup request at 5:15, from a woman who wanted him to pick up her boyfriend at a Richland Township apartment complex.
[5][6] The shootings began around 5:42 EST when a woman was shot a total of four times in a parking lot of the same apartment complex.
[4][5][12] Five children, including the woman's daughter, were present at the scene of the shooting, but they escaped unharmed through her efforts.
At 6:05, approximately twenty minutes after the first shooting occurred, Dalton called the requester, saying that he hadn't responded to her text and that he could not do the ride because "something had come up".
[5][6] One minute after the shooting, Dalton's Equinox was seen driving through a red traffic light at an intersection approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) away from the crime scene.
He explained to his wife that the Equinox had been sideswiped by a disgruntled taxi driver in a Chevrolet Impala, who fired a gunshot at him due to rage at having his business taken away by Uber.
[17] Other witnesses in a Burger King parking lot across the street recorded the shooter fleeing, and one called 9-1-1 a minute after the shots were fired.
[5] About ten minutes later,[5] a third shooting occurred outside a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Texas Township,[18] located about 5 miles (8.0 km) from the Kia dealership.
[5] After officers responding to the scene of the Kia dealership shooting heard reports of the gunfire at Cracker Barrel, they realized there might be a mobile active shooter.
Using newly installed security footage from the Kia dealership, police put out a description of the gunman over the radio.
In addition, multiple reports of gunfire at several locations, including the Western Michigan University (WMU) campus, were investigated but ultimately determined to be false.
A few minutes later, he picked up another three people, and just like the previous ride, a passenger asked if he was the shooter, which Dalton vehemently denied.
[5] At 12:36, a police sergeant with the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office observed Dalton dropping off the three passengers, followed him, and requested backup.
[40] He then attended Kalamazoo Valley Community College and graduated in December 1992 with an associate degree in law enforcement, though he did not enroll in the school's police academy program.
[39] Dalton was generally described as a "nice guy" and a "good family man",[41] though it was reported that he had been acting depressed in the days before the shootings occurred.
[11][47] Dalton worked as a driver for Uber during the two weeks preceding the killing spree and purportedly took fares between shooting incidents.
Although Dalton traveled in the area where the shootings occurred and had been the insurance adjuster for a damaged sheriff patrol vehicle, he was cleared of any involvement.
[71] Kopf was discharged on July 26 and allowed to return home,[72] but had to undergo surgery yet again on August 17 due to a related skin infection.
[76] He reappeared in court on April 22, where it was ruled by the Michigan Center for Forensic Psychiatry that he was found competent to stand trial.
During the hearing, Dalton made a verbal outburst and interrupted Tiana Carruthers, the first victim attacked in the shootings, while she was testifying.
[12][82][83] On June 6, following a pretrial conference, Dalton's attorneys announced their plans to present a legal insanity defense for their client.
He underwent a psychiatric evaluation conducted by the Michigan Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Saline, a process that was carried out over the next 60 days.
[85] On August 12, the conference was postponed to September 30, with the Kalamazoo County chief assistant prosecutor saying that the evaluation has not yet been finished.
[94] Joe Sullivan, Uber's Chief Security Officer, released a statement reading, "We are horrified and heartbroken at the senseless violence in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
[97] In response to the shootings, President Barack Obama praised law enforcement agencies and pledged federal support for the ongoing investigation.
[98] Following the shootings, there was public outcry when it was revealed there was no active-shooter alert that could be sent to Kalamazoo-area residents and students at Western Michigan University.
An editorial calling for an emergency alert system for such high-profile incidents was published by Michigan Live six days after the shootings.