UPDATE: Kalamazoo shooting spree suspect stoic at arraignment on 6 murder charges

KALAMAZOO, MI - In interviews with police, Jason B. Dalton admitted "taking people's lives" Saturday during a shooting spree in Kalamazoo that left six dead and two others seriously injured, detectives said Monday.

Kalamazoo Public Safety Detective Cory Ghiringhelli testified in Kalamazoo County District Court that Dalton, 45, was arrested early Sunday in connection with the mass shooting.

"Dalton ultimately told detectives under Miranda that he took people's lives on 2/20/2016," Ghiringhelli told District Judge Anne E. Blatchford.

Blatchford, after hearing testimony from Ghiringhelli, as well as Kalamazoo County sheriff's Detective Sgt. William Sparrow and Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Bryan DeWyse issued a warrant charging Dalton with six counts of murder, two counts of assault with intent to commit murder and eight counts of felony firearm use.

Dalton was expected to be arraigned on the charges Monday afternoon by District Judge Christopher T. Haenicke.

Police and prosecutors allege Dalton's shooting spree began shortly after 5:40 p.m. Saturday in Richland Township when he shot Tiana Carruthers multiple times in the parking lot of Meadow Townhomes, off East G Avenue in Richland Township.

Just after 10 p.m., Dalton is accused of shooting Tyler Smith, 17, and Tyler's father, as they were looking at cars at Seelye Automotive on Stadium Drive. The Smiths were both killed.

Minutes later, police said Dalton opened fire again, killing four women and critically injuring a 14-year-old girl as they sat in two different vehicles in the parking lot of the Cracker Barrel restaurant on South Ninth Street in Texas Township.

Mary Lou Nye, 62, of Baroda; Mary Jo Nye, 60, Dorothy "Judy" Brown, 74, and Barbara Hawthorne, 68, all of Battle Creek, were killed in the shooting at Cracker Barrel. The 14-year-old, whose name has not been released, was in critical condition at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo after the shooting.

Sparrow testified Monday that sheriff's deputies found Carruthers after responding at 5:42 p.m. for a report of a shooting. They also found 10 shell casings, he said.

At the scene, Carruthers was able to give deputies a description of the man who shot her, describing him as an older, heavy-set white male with brown and graying hair.

Sparrow testified that Carruthers told deputies her attacker left in a silver sport-utility vehicle. Other witnesses told deputies the vehicle was either a Chevrolet Equinox or Traverse.

Sparrow said that deputies later learned that the vehicle, after leaving Meadows Townhomes was involved in a crash after it sideswiped another vehicle at the intersection of Gull Road and East G Avenue.

When she was shown a police lineup after the shooting, Sparrow said Carruthers identified Dalton as the man who shot her.

When gunfire erupted again, more than four hours later, at Seelye Automotive on Stadium Drive, Ghiringhelli told Blatchford officers responded after receiving a call from a person who reported that two people had been shot and the caller "was not sure if they were breathing."

Ghiringhelli said officers found Tyler and Rich Smith, who were pronounced dead at the scene at 10:23 p.m.

Ghiringhelli said Public Safety detectives later obtained surveillance footage from the car dealership that showed a white male in a dark-colored Chevrolet HHR. Ghiringhelli said the video showed the male shooting Tyler and Rich Smith.

Autopsies performed Sunday showed the Smiths both died from multiple gunshot wounds, Ghiringhelli said.

Ghiringhelli told Blatchford KDPS officers and a sheriff's deputy later found Dalton in a dark-colored Chevrolet HHR in downtown Kalamazoo. Dalton had a semiautomatic handgun with him, the detective said.

In the shooting at Cracker Barrel, DeWyse testified that police, like at the shooting scene in Kalamazoo, were able to obtain surveillance footage.

DeWyse said the footage showed a Chevrolet HHR parking their vehicle on the west end of the Cracker Barrel parking lot. Later, he said the the footage shows the person "walks up to those vehicles and open fires, shooting multiple times."

The driver of the HHR then left the scene, DeWyse said.

DeWyse said in an interview with police Sunday, Dalton admitted to being at the scene of the shootings at the Cracker Barrel.

Rex Hall Jr. is a reporter for MLive.com. You can reach him at rhall2@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter.