Kat Stafford

Detroit Free Press

An insurance salesman by day and a hobby mechanic on the side, Jason Dalton purchased a gun recently after a string of break-ins within the past few years left him without a few of his prized tools, according to neighbors, who said he "liked guns."

The small, ranch home where Dalton lived with his wife, Carole, and their two children, ages 15 and 10, stood quiet Sunday afternoon, just hours after he allegedly shot and killed six people in a random shooting rampage across Kalamazoo County Saturday. No one appeared to be home when a Free Press reporter knocked on the door. A white fence encircled the backyard of the home, where a green playscape could be seen. An empty red Chevrolet truck sat in the driveway of the home in the rural neighborhood north of Kalamazoo.

A man who pulled up to the home in a red F-150 truck said he knew the Dalton family, but declined to comment.

Neighbors are shocked that Dalton has been tied to the mass shootings.

"He was a nice guy," said neighbor Sally Pardo, pointing out the window of her home. "He had two kids, a wife. That’s what's really sad. Those kids have to live with this for the rest of their lives. What's even sadder is the victims and their families. ...What tripped him off? What caused this crazy random act? For those people to just be out for an evening, enjoying the night. What a horrible way to lose a loved one. It just breaks my heart."

Pardo,70, and her husband Gary Pardo, 72, said police swarmed Dalton's home early Sunday morning.

"It was very dark, very quiet, no sirens," Sally Pardo recalled. "But I heard someone talking and I looked out and they were surrounding the house. They had lights on it. It was packed with police this morning. I never in a million years thought Jason Dalton is the one who’d done this. This morning he( Gary Pardo) was on his iPad and said, 'What’s Jason;s last name?' I said Dalton and he said, 'He’s the one who committed these murders.' We just couldn't believe it."

Gary Pardo described Dalton as a "laid back guy" who loved cars.

"He loved working on cars, he regularly worked on Volkswagen vehicles for people," Gary Pardo said. "He had a regular job but he worked on cars a lot. So over the years he had a couple of break-ins where he lost tools. He was a little more protective I think. We knew he had a gun. I think he had it just for protection. He wasn’t a hunter or anything like that, but I know he liked guns."

The Pardos, who live directly across the street from Dalton, on a busy mainfare, said he would regularly come over to chat with them. He recently told the couple his family purchased a dog and he inquired Sally about her cancer diagnosis.

"Occasionally, we’d talk to him," Gary Pardo said. "He’d walk over to me and talk and we’d mainly talk about cars."

WMU didn't alert students to Kalamazoo shootings

Several cars drove by the home to get a closer look at where Dalton lives. One woman, who said she lives four homes away, walked down the road to Dalton's home and said she was stunned. One young man drove by and shouted an expletive at the home.

"I just can't believe it," said the woman, who declined to share her name. "This is a nice neighborhood with lots of joggers and walkers. My nephew and his wife came to visit and said, 'Do you know anything about your neighbor. He's the killer.'"

Colleen Benjamin, whose husband works with Carole Dalton at the Kalamazoo branch of Raymond James financial advisers, called Dalton's alleged involvement in the shootings a "a total shock."

"They're a very nice family," Benjamin said. "I never would have suspected anything."

Carole Dalton has worked for Raymond James since 1999 and received an administrative assistant certificate from Kalamazoo Community College, according to her company profile.

"She's wonderful and my heart goes out to her," Benjamin said. She said Jason Dalton had worked as an insurance adjuster.

"The guy was a family man," Pardo said. "He stuck with his family, and we never noticed anything strange."

Jason Dalton had no criminal record, police said, and court records show five traffic violations from 1991 to 2006.

Thomas Frank of USA Today contributed to this report.

Contact Katrease Stafford: kstafford@freepress.com or 313-223-4759. Follow her on Twitter @KatreaseS_Freep.