KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — As students, friends and families are still coming to terms with last week’s mass shooting at Michigan State University, the Kalamazoo community is remembering a tragic event of their own.
It was seven years ago on February 20 that Uber Driver Jason Dalton went on a shooting rampage killing six people and critically injuring two others.
The first shots were fired by Dalton at 5:42 p.m. that fateful Saturday injuring Tiana Carruthers who was outside with her daughter at their Richland apartment complex.
And just after 10 p.m. according to police, Dalton cut through the Seely KIA dealership in Kalamazoo where he shot and killed 53-year-old Richard Smith Jr and 17-year-old Tyler Smith before continuing his spree at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Oshtemo where he shot five women including then-14-year-old Abigail Kopf, who was shot in the head but survived after being rushed into surgery.
The four other women died from their injuries.
Dalton pleaded guilty to the six murders in 2018 and was sentenced to life in prison a year later in 2019.
