KALAMAZOO, MI - In the early hours of Feb. 21, Jason Brian Dalton told detectives his explanation for a mass shooting in Kalamazoo that left six dead would blow their minds.

The Uber driver then proceeded to tell the detectives that the Uber app on his iPhone had taken over his mind and led to the carnage and bloodshed that took place between 5:40 p.m. and 10:26 p.m. on Feb. 20.

"I asked Dalton what was going through his mind tonight at Don Seelye Ford and he said he didn't want to say," Detective Bill Moorian wrote in a report obtained Monday by the Kalamazoo Gazette and MLive through the Michigan Freedom of Information Act. "I informed Dalton that the entire incident is on video at Don Seelye. Dalton said that if we only knew, it would blow our mind.

"Dalton then explains how when he opens up the Uber taxi app a symbol appeared and he recognized that symbol as the Eastern Star symbol. Dalton acknowledged that he recognized the Uber symbol as being that of the Eastern Star and a devil head popped up on his screen and when he pressed the button on the app, that is when all the problems started."

Moorian, along with KDPS Detective Cory Ghiringhelli and Kalamazoo County sheriff's Detective Sgt. Donald McGehee, interviewed Dalton at length after he was arrested in connection with the mass shooting.

When he was arrested, police found a Walther 9 mm handgun on him, as well as some ammunition. Dalton also was wearing a bulletproof vest that belonged to his son, who was an explorer for the sheriff's office, according to the report.

Moorian's report goes on to say Dalton told detectives he started driving for Uber the previous Thursday and that "the iPhone can take you over.

"Dalton explained how you can drive over 100 mph and go through stop signs and you can just get places. Dalton said he wishes he would never have spoken what that symbol was when he saw it on his phone. Dalton described the devil figure as a horned cow head or something like that and then it would give you an assignment and it would literally take over your whole body."

That remark from Dalton, according to Moorian's report, prompted McGehee to ask what assignment the Uber app gave him on Feb. 20, to which Dalton responded that he didn't remember anything from the time he logged onto the app earlier in the day.

"Dalton was asked if he recalled shooting some people tonight and he said he did recall that, but other than that, he doesn't remember anything," Moorian wrote. "Dalton said that it starts out that you have to follow the navigation, but it gets to the point where you don't have to drive at all, the car just goes ... Dalton said he was seeing himself from outside of his body."

Dalton, who has been charged with six counts of murder, two counts of assault with intent to commit murder and eight counts of felony firearm use, was ordered March 3 to undergo an evaluation to determine whether he is mentally competent to stand trial.

A report on Dalton's competency is expected be complete by no later than May 2.

Dalton is accused of shooting Tiana Carruthers, 25, multiple times at about 5:40 p.m. on Feb. 20 at The Meadows townhomes in Richland Township. Carruthers was taken to Borgess Medical Center and is recovering.

Hours later, just after 10 p.m., police allege he shot and killed 17-year-old Tyler Smith and Tyler's father, Rich, 53, in the parking lot of Seelye Auto Group on Stadium Drive. Minutes later, at 10:26 p.m., Dalton is suspected of shooting and killing four women in the parking lot of the Cracker Barrel restaurant on South Ninth Street in Texas Township.

Abigail Kopf, 14, was wounded during the shooting at the Cracker Barrel. She was in critical condition in the days after the shooting but has recovered and is now recuperating from her injuries at a rehabilitation facility in Grand Rapids.

Dalton was arrested at 12:40 a.m. on Feb. 21 during a traffic stop in downtown Kalamazoo by sheriff's Sgt. James Harrison with the help of Public Safety officers.

Moorian said Dalton recalled to him and McGehee that the Uber app "literally took over his mind and body" on Feb. 20 when the color of the app's symbol changed from red to black. Dalton told the detectives the app symbol changed colors when he spoke the name of the Eastern Star symbol.

"Dalton said that as soon as the police officer stopped him tonight, the symbol went from black to red and he felt like he was no longer being guided," Moorian wrote. "Dalton said that was the reason he didn't shoot the officer because the app went from black to red ... Dalton said that if he would've never ever mentioned the Uber symbol resembling the Eastern star, he never would've had any problems."

Dalton then went on to tell Moorian and McGehee that the Uber app "made him" get his 9 mm handgun and put on the bulletproof vest on Feb. 20, and that the app also made him change cars that day from a Chevrolet Equinox to the Chevrolet HHR he was in when he was arrested.

Moorian, at one point, asked Dalton, if he carried his gun on Feb. 20 in his pocket or in a holster. Dalton told the detective he had used a holster that he purchased that day from On Target Guns & Gunsmithing on West Main Street.

"Dalton said that he understands now how the other mass shootings take place," Moorian sad. "Dalton explained how he has experienced a full body takeover, that is how he can understand the other mass shootings."

During his interview with police, Dalton told detectives numerous times that he wanted to "plead the fifth" and that he remembered very little about his actions on Feb. 20.

At one point, he told Moorian and Ghiringhelli he did not recall how many shots he fired on Feb. 20, but remembered feeling the recoil of the gun in his hand and the sound of the gun firing. Specifically, in the Cracker Barrel incident, Dalton told the detectives he couldn't recall where he had his gun pointed when he fired it.

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