Kalamazoo Catastrophe

Alex Castillo, Copy Editor

An Uber driver turned gunman went on a nightlong rampage on Feb. 20, killing 6 people and wounding 2 victims in the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan. The suspect, 45-year-old Jason Brian Dalton, has absolutely stumped local police because he seemingly had no real motive or specific victims to hit along with no record of criminal history.

 

Uber, an online taxi service, has commented about the incident and said they were “horrified and heartbroken” that Dalton had managed to pass the background check required of all Uber employees.

 

Junior, Jacob Olivarez, is a regular user of Uber’s cab services.

 

“It kind of make’s me feel weird that an Uber driver did this,” Olivarez said. “I use it a lot and now I feel kind of more hesitant to call an Uber on my phone.”

 

Michigan State Police stated that there were no targeted people in the shooting and instead they were all random victims. These victims consisted of a woman outside an apartment complex, a father and son looking to purchase a car at a dealership, and a group of women outside of a Cracker Barrel restaurant.

 

Thomas Lopez also uses Uber fairly often and also has concerns over the shooting.

 

“I bet that it’s really scary over there right now,” Lopez said. “It’s scary to know that those that were killed were just ordinary people and that it can happen anywhere so suddenly.”

 

Uber has also discussed the idea of having stricter background checks. These checks would require more references from previous jobs along with financial statements. Brent Lugo, 11, disagrees with this new policy.

 

“I don’t think the new background checks are going to help a lot,” Lugo said. “Security checks can’t read the minds of the workers. Even if they look good on paper, they might just snap one day or something.”

 

The murder weapon, a semi-automatic handgun, was found in the back seat. Police have surmised that this attack was intentional. Dalton was taken into custody early Sunday morning as he was spotted in his car after leaving a bar.