An Uber driver admitted to murdering six strangers over the course of one day between rides.

In a Kalamazoo, Michigan courtroom Monday, Jason Dalton, 48, told a judge: ‘I’ve wanted to do this for quite a while.’

Dalton admitted to shooting Tiana Carruthers, 25, in a parking lot on February 20, 2016 – then admitted to gunning down father and son Rich, 53, and Tyler Smith, 17, later that night in a different parking lot.

Jason Dalton pleaded guilty to killing six people in-between picking up riders for Uber in February 2016. (Picture: AP)

He then gunned down Mary Lou Nye, 62, Mary Jo Nye, 60, Dorothy “Judy” Brown, 74, and Barbara Hawthorne, 68, in a restaurant parking lot – where he also shot a 14-year-old girl who survived.


In between killings, Dalton picked up other Uber fares who he did not kill, MLive reported.

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Upon Dalton’s arrest, police quoted him saying a ‘devil figure’ on Uber’s app was controlling him the day of the shootings.



In an interview with detectives, Dalton said the Uber app ‘literally took over his mind and body’ on February 20 when the color of the app’s symbol changed from red to black.

He said the apps symbol changed colors when he spoke the name of the Eastern Star symbol – which is a symbol female Masonic organization that represents God on earth.

The victims in the Kalamazoo shootings, from left to right: (top row) Mary Jo Nye, Mary Lou Nye, Barbara Hawthorne (bottom row) Dorothy Brown, Tyler Smith and Rich Smith. (Picture: Facebook/Gofundme/NYDailyNews)

In court, Dalton answered ‘yes’ to a series of questions, admitting that he shot eight people, six of which died, at three locations in February 2016.

Dalton used a 9mm handgun in she shootings, according to Kalamazoo County Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Getting.

Authorities later searched Dalton’s home and found a cache of long guns and hand guns.

Police tape surrounded the area of one of Dalton’s random shooting in Kalamazoo, Michigan (Picture: AP)

Dalton was not expected to plead guilty at the Monday morning hearing, with his lawyer revealing he had advised him against admitting to the mass killing.

‘I think he was influenced the last few days by his family… it was against my advice,’ Dalton’s lawyer, Eusebio Solis, told reporters Monday.

Solis said Dalton did not want to put his family or the families of the victims through a trial.

Jason Dalton’s attorney speaks. Says he did not want Dalton to plead guilty. pic.twitter.com/5nzz1YAzxJ — Franque Thompson (@FranqueThompson) January 7, 2019

‘He has been remorseful. The public has only seen him in the courtroom when the pressure is on,’ he said.

There was no sentencing agreements that hinged on Dalton’s guilty pleas.

He faces a mandatory life sentence in prison for each of his first-degree murder convictions.

‘I’ve been practicing law for 30 years and have never pleaded to life in prison without parole,’ Solis said.