PLAINWELL, MI -- Hours before Jason Brian Dalton allegedly went on a shooting spree, killing six strangers and critically injuring two others in Kalamazoo, he stopped at a gun shop with a friend.

Dalton, 45, didn't buy a gun or ammo on Saturday, says owner, Jonathan Southwick, owner of Southwick's, a gun and ammo shop in Allegan County, about 20 miles north of Kalamazoo.

He did buy a black jacket with chest pocket designed to conceal a handgun. Witnesses say Dalton was wearing a black jacket Saturday night when he was working as an Uber driver, and a timeline of the shooting spree shows Dalton was allegedly stopping to shoot people at random with a semi-automatic handgun in between picking up his fares.

Less than three hours before the string of killings began, Dalton appeared to be in good spirits during his visit to the store, Southwick said. He even gave one of the employees a side hug.

A few hours before he went on a deadly shooting spree, Jason Dalton stopped at Southwick's, a gun and ammo shop, in Plainwell.

"He was very normal when he came in," Southwick said. "I greeted him and asked how he was doing. I hadn't seen him a while. He said he was doing good and he was enjoying the weather."

While his friend looked at guns, Dalton spent about $85 on the 5.11 branded jacket that fit his bulky frame.

"He was smiling and joking around, and he did a one-armed hug to my manager and told him to have a good day," Southwick said. "That was it."

Southwick now is working with Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigators and turned over footage of Dalton's visit to the store at 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20. Dalton, who was arrested early Sunday morning, was arraigned Monday on six counts of murder.

Southwick remembers Dalton making his first visit to the store in early 2015 -- a few weeks after he opened the Plainwell location at 1271 M-89. On that first visit, Dalton wanted to make a gun trade.

"He looked at a long gun," Southwick said. "He never looked at pistols as far as I can remember."

Dalton was an occasional customer, who stopped in every month or two. Southwick knew him by face, but not by name.

This is a concealed weapons jacket Jason Dalton bought a few hours before he went on a shooting spree in Kalamazoo.

Southwick recognized Dalton's mug shot when an employee saw the familiar face in news reports and showed it to him on Sunday.

"I went cold," said Southwick. "I got goose bumps. I said 'Holy crap, I talked to him yesterday afternoon.' Never did I think that was going to happen. There was no emotions or actions that indicated that he was going to commit those crimes."

On Monday, Southwick checked his records to confirm that he never sold a weapon to Dalton. His records don't indicate whether Dalton bought ammo at the store.

"I was glad I hadn't sold him the gun," said Southwick, adding that he feels horrible for the victims and their families.

Southwick has no idea when or where Dalton bought the gun he allegedly used in the shooting spree, a weapon police have described as a pistol.

In a case like this, Southwick says he's not sure what could have been done to prevent the tragedy.

"Up until the time he pulled the trigger on the first victim, he was a law-abiding citizen," Southwick said. "There is no law you can put into place that is going to prevent something like what happened Saturday. An individual just happened to snap.... There's no law that is ever going to prevent that."

Shandra Martinez covers business and other topics for MLive. Email her or follow her on Twitter @shandramartinez.