a snowy winter night. >> and a nightmare uber driver. "20/20" starts right now. do you remember the moment you saw that gun? >> how could i forget? >> 911. >> please hurry up. >> pow, pow, pow, pow, pow. >> there's a crazy man on a shooting spree. >> developments in that horrifying massacre.

an uber driver. >> 911. >> i'd like to report an erratic driver. he is my uber driver. >> we all love hailing a car with an app. but the truth is, you don't know who is in the driver's seat. >> who could have ever imagined that these strangers' lives would forever be connected because of an uber driver? >> the suspect walks up closely to the victims and shoots them point blank. >> no, no. it's not them. it's not them. they said, yeah, it is. >> i just kept telling myself, god, you're going to make it. you can make it. >> i almost died. and my mom was a basket case. ♪ when the devil comes ♪ >> we just kept asking him, why? and finally, he says, if i told you, it would blow your mind. >> a devil head? popping up in your uber app? ♪ when the devil comes you had better hide because hell is coming down ♪ ♪ devil, devil ♪

♪ devil, devil ♪ ♪ when the devil comes ♪ ♪ >> evil visited a place that we thought that we might be insulated. >> warm all across west michigan. everybody heading up to the 40s, and some may even touch 50 today. ♪ there's a light that ties us ♪ >> everybody ready? >> february 20, 2016, was just a normal day, ordinary people doing ordinary things. friends and family hanging out together. >> i was going out with some friends that night. >> i had worked the night before, so i was working 12-hour shifts, which allowed me to sleep most of the day. >> it was just a normal day. >> reporter: this is an ordinary day in kalamazoo, michigan, and the lives of these ordinary people are about to intersect and be changed forever because of one man, jason dalton, the uber driver.

>> we all love hailing a car with an app. it's easy. it's convenient. but the truth is, when that car shows up, you really don't know who's in the driver's seat. >> uber driver under arrest. >> a driver accused of raping his passenger. >> we're stepping into a vehicle of a total stranger, who could harm you, who could wreck the car. and so there's an inherent vulnerability to these ride sharing programs. >> 911? >> no one needs to be riding with this crazy man, and he doesn't need to be on the road. >> when an uber passenger places a request, it gets routed to a nearby driver. and as soon as they accept it, they go drive to the passenger. and that passenger will actually see the picture of the driver. and they can follow along on their route, as they drive to pick them up. >> reporter: it's 4:21 in the afternoon, and uber driver jason dalton is picking up his first ride of the day, matt mellon. >> uber had just come to the

kalamazoo area, and he decided that was a way to make some extra money. >> to raise money for a vacation. >> he was new to uber, was just learning how to figure out the app. they had good reviews of his rides. >> reporter: this one ride would unleash eight hours of terror in kalamazoo. and we've been covering this story for years now, from the very beginning. >> matt mellen was going to pick up his car after leaving it the night before at a friend's house. >> so he picked me up here. >> reporter: do you notice the names of the uber drivers when you get in there? >> i mean, sure. i always look at their photo. >> reporter: right. >> do i pay much attention to that? not really. >> matt was one of the first of many people whose life would be affected by jason dalton that day. >> he did have a dog in his back seat, so i sat in the front seat because the dog was in the back seat. >> jason took his dog for a walk before he started driving riders in the uber.

>> reporter: so, you hopped in, and you started off on the route. >> at this point, everything was fairly normal. he did receive a telephone call, and he took it over the bluetooth speaker. it was one of his children. >> reporter: how long did that phone call last? >> it was rather brief. i would say maybe two, three minutes. >> his son calling wanting to know if he wanted dinner. it was dinnertime. he hung up the phone, and things changed. >> then, out of nowhere, it was like he was dealing with a completely different person. >> that's when he slammed the gas pedal. and then, boom, we were off. >> reporter: how fast do you think he was going down these streets? >> it was pedal to the metal, probably 75, 80 miles an hour down this road. i was bracing for impact, basically. >> jason is running stop signs. he's speeding through traffic. and matt is in the front seat thinking he might die or that their car is going to get t-boned. he wants out of that car. >> he was worried that he wasn't going to make it home, he wasn't going to see his family or friends again. he was terrified. >> i was pleading for him to stop at this point because it was like, "you just hit that

car." and he's like, "i didn't hit any car." >> reporter: is his tone normal? is he sort of conversational? >> yeah, yeah. he was rather calm. and he's like, "what's wrong with the way i'm driving?" >> reporter: as he's going 75 miles an hour down these -- >> yeah, swerving in and out of traffic. we were going so fast, we just blew right through this. at one point, i even thought about hitting him. "oh, there's my friend's street. there's my friend's street." which obviously it wasn't because he blew past it. basically i was pointing out random houses. i was like, oh, there's my friend's house. there's my friend's house. there's my friend's house. finally, he slammed on his brakes. >> i heard this loud screeching noise. and our neighborhood is normally very quiet and very subdued. there's not really any traffic. so i ran out into the front yard. the silver chevy equinox came screeching to a halt, and a door flew open, and, like, this guy does a tumble roll out of the car. and i couldn't tell if he had been pushed, shoved, or he actually jumped out of the car. i see this driver.

dark, heavy rimmed glasses, crazy gray hair. he looked very agitated. >> reporter: did he immediately take off again? >> yeah. yeah, he just burned his tires out. i was like, "call 911. call 911." at that point, i was also dialing 911. >> 911. >> i was just in the car with my uber driver. he was weaving in and out of lanes. he sideswiped a car. >> what kind of car was it? >> a chevy equinox. >> do you want to talk to an officer or do you want me to put out a lookout? >> i just want to -- i just want to report it because i don't want someone to get hurt. >> i understand, but i just need to know. >> i just want them to be on the lookout. >> okay, thank you. >> people calling about drivers, there's not much the police can do unless the police witness that vehicle driving erratically

themselves. which unfortunately they did not see that vehicle. mellen did not want to be contacted. if there's no complainant, there's not much they can do. >> when i got home, that's when i filed through the app and contacted uber, which was via email. >> back in 2016, believe it or not, there was no way to immediately call a human at uber in case of emergency. >> who exactly is this uber driver, jason dalton? what do we know about him? >> to me, the most remarkable thing about him was how unremarkable he was going into february 20th. >> jason, by all accounts, was a fairly gregarious character. >> he was an insurance adjuster. he was an average person with a 9:00 to 5:00 job and a family. >> he's a father like so many other midwestern fathers posting pictures on facebook. you see him there with his wife and kids on the couch.

>> they had married for over 20 years. >> you see him on what seems like a pontoon boat and also playing in the snow with his kids. >> just seemed like a normal, nice guy. >> jason grew up in indiana. he moved to kalamazoo during high school. >> he was the co-captain of the football team, and he had pretty good grades throughout high school. >> i was the best man in his wedding. he could make conversation with just about anyone. he was not afraid to speak his mind but definitely not out to ever cause anybody trouble. >> he liked to work on cars. he liked to figure out how cars worked. but he also liked guns. there was a break-in that occurred. i believe someone stole some of his prized tools. and it really bothered him, i believe that's what caused him to start collecting guns. >> he had guns but nothing that would cause you to go, oh, my gosh. he had 15 guns at the house.

>> those guns were all legally owned. there was nothing to prevent mr. dalton from owning any of the guns he was in possession of. >> i think you'll find in this community and many others, i don't think his ownership and the number of guns was anything unusual, frankly. >> reporter: before jason dalton had taken matt incredible ride, jason dalton's day had been completely ordinary, at least for him. >> he met a friend, and they visited a couple of local gun stores, which was typical for them. >> when jason dalton goes to the gun shop, he buys both a holster and a jacket. >> he was upbeat. my manager talked to jason. jason was very friendly with him, smiled, laughed, gave him a little one-arm hug as they walked toward the cash register. my manager told him to have a nice day, and he turned and smiled and said, i'm going out to enjoy the weather.

and that was it. >> after matt was able to escape from the wild ride with jason dalton, jason dalton then went home. >> he ended up going home to his house and retrieving his weapons. at that point, we know he had a glock 19 9 millimeter. >> jason also put on a bullet proof vest. he gets back in his chevy equinox, and he's off to pick up passengers. but this time, he's packing heat, he's off to the fateful route where he will intersect with so many unsuspecting people. >> we often say, things can change in a second. and in this case, it changed like that. >> please hurry up. somebody fired shots. >> when he activates uber and starts picking up, that's when the horror begins. ♪ until... disaster struck. ♪ tensions... were high. ♪

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88.3 wcxk, kalamazoo. >> the weekend is here again. clouds tonight, 35. >> 46 right now, working our way up to a high of 53. >> kalamazoo, where it's at in western michigan, is just about halfway between chicago and detroit. it's sort of a bigger town that

still has a small town feel. >> kalamazoo city contains a lot of businesses, a lot of restaurants. >> about 100 polar plungers are thawing out tonight after jumping into turk lake this afternoon. >> the attraction to kalamazoo, michigan is that it is a safe midwestern town with those midwestern values. the cost of living is good. you can buy a nice house, live in the country if you want, but you're close to the city. it's one of those ideal towns where parents dream about raising their families. it's not the kind of city where you would expect jason dalton to go on a rampage. >> february 20th, i remember so vivid. one of our first warm days, maybe in the 40s. and the snow was melting. it was a break from the winter. >> tiana carruthers, a 25-year-old mom, she had one

daughter. >> i just remember happy, smiling, laughing. that's what the sun does to you, the first warm days here in michigan, you know? because you never know when the sun might be out again, for sure. >> reporter: tiana's afternoon and in fact her whole life would change when jason dalton's route would cross her path in that parking lot. >> that day, things started to seem to unravel a little bit. after matt, dalton goes home and he retrieves his weapons. >> reporter: what is so unusual about this is that jason dalton, after having this terrifying ride with matt mellen, goes back to driving uber, as if nothing happened. >> the fare that had called for a ride, her name was >> at the time i was 15.

>> maci ordered an uber at the meadows apartment complex. jason got the call, and so he headed over. >> the meadows is a typical kalamazoo county condo apartment complex with a parking lot. a lot of families live there. kids are outside playing. people are walking their animals. >> so when jason showed up, he was looking for the picture he saw in the account, but he didn't see her. >> he was calling me and telling me, like, saying i was giving him wrong directions and was getting upset with me and then had hung up on me. i just kept texting and texting, and i was like, "are you there yet?" >> reporter: tiana carruthers lived at the meadows complex where jason dalton comes to pick up his next fare. >> talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. that was tiana carruthers. >> i was in the house just finishing up a workout, you know, trying to get fit for the summer. and my daughter was with some young ladies. they came in like, mom, mom,

mom, we really want to go over this girl's house named joi. can we go over her house? i said, "okay, i'll walk you over there. we'll go meet her mom." i had joi, kaniya, dorjaye, edriana, salinah, and myself. >> reporter: snow's melting. and you cross the street. >> yes. >> reporter: do you remember what you were talking about? >> oh, we're just talking, laughing, and then all that ended when i saw this car just speeding. >> reporter: right as they're about to cross the street, tiana and those kids, jason dalton pulls up. >> he just instantly was right in front of me. like, i was this close to this man. and i just remember a dog barking, wouldn't stop barking. >> he saw tiana, and he approached her, rolled down the window, asked if she was maci. >> he just kept asking me that.

"are you maci?" i said, "no," and i said it quite aggressively because i was, like, you're driving crazy. >> reporter: at this point, he seems really angry because he's having trouble finding his fare, this person named maci. >> he speeds off after i said no. we continue to walk, but at the time i still have my eyes on him like, just, you know, paying attention. >> he turned the car around, drove back towards her. >> i saw a car, and it was coming fast, but yet slow motion in my head. >> took the glock model 19 out of his pocket. and as he got even with her, she saw him pull the gun. >> reporter: do you remember the moment you saw that gun? >> how could i forget? i told the girls, run. no matter what, you run and do not come back.

>> she had no idea that she was looking into the face of a man who was going to commit these horrible crimes. >> maybe if i just keep moving, if i just keep moving, if i just keep moving, but he just continued to shoot. you can feel it... when your dream becomes a pursuit. and with vitiligo, the pursuit for your pigment is no exception. it's time you had a proven choice to help restore what's yours. opzelura is the first and only fda-approved prescription treatment

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every plan covers preventive care, doctor visits, emergency care, and more. if you have questions, we're here to help every step of the way. covered california. this way to health insurance. enroll by december 31 at coveredca.com. >> reporter: it's this sunny, unseasonably warm day in kalamazoo, michigan, but uber driver jason dalton's day is only getting darker. he just pulled this gun on tiana carruthers, this mother, who's just trying to shepherd these children across the street. >> i'll never forget his face. i'll never forget the pain that i saw in his eyes. i'll never forget the anger that he had. >> she saw him pull the gun.

>> after i realized the kids were far enough, that's when i made a decision to just start running. [ gunshots ] >> he starts shooting and shooting and shooting, again and again and again. >> i just kept hearing bullets, just bang, bang, bang, bang. >> 15 rounds. >> i was shot four times. i didn't feel the bullets right away. it was like a bee sting at first. >> i ran to the door, and everybody's just kind of screaming, someone got shot. >> kalamazoo county 911. >> hello, i need an ambulance. please hurry up, somebody fired shots. >> there's been, like, nine to ten gun shots right outside our apartment complex. >> we need someone here. >> okay, over on high meadows? >> for one split second i was like, this might be it. i tried to get under a car, but then when i realized if i just

keep moving, if i just keep moving, if i just keep moving, then he'd just continue to shoot. so i laid there, and i pretended that i was dead. and i just kept telling myself, "god, you're gonna make it. you have no other choice. you're gonna make it." and i just kept telling myself, i just hope the children are okay. lord, please. i can never forgive myself. just make sure that they're okay. >> i thought it was maybe rocks or something hitting the siding, and that's when i checked out the window, when i saw a car was speeding off. >> when he pulled off, i figured it was okay to call out.

i just started screaming, are the kids okay? are the kids okay? and then i heard a woman. >> she wanted to know about her kids. she was coherent. >> then i heard more voices. >> a bunch of people just came out and started helping her. >> and they were like, are you okay? are you okay? i just kept telling them i wasn't going to respond to any of their questions until i knew that the kids were okay. >> please don't move. they're coming, okay? we got the kids. please don't move. >> i've never met her, this was the first time, and it's the wrong way to meet your neighbors. she's very lucky, and those kids are very lucky, too. >> you physically blocked some of those bullets from where those kids were going. you took those bullets with your own body to protect them. >> yes. if i didn't, and one of those children were hurt, i don't think i could bear a child

losing their life. would i do it all over again? hell, yeah, i'd do it again. without a doubt. >> kalamazoo county. how can i help you? >> dispatchers are fielding those panicked calls from the meadows are now starting to see similarities between those calls and the call made by matt mellen just an hour earlier about that erratic uber driver. >> reporter: both reports were of a man in a silver suv with a dog in the back, and he's driving erratically. >> that's just too crazy that the vehicles are similar, though, with a dog. >> the 911 dispatchers called matt mellen back. >> hello? >> hi. did you call earlier about the uber driver? >> yeah, yeah. he picked me up from my house. did you guys catch him? >> nope, we're just trying to see if he was involved in another incident. >> okay. >> okay? >> i have his name from uber. it's jason.

i did send her a picture, i remember that, of him. because i took a screen shot of the uber profile, and i sent it to her with his name. >> it appears that there was a missed opportunity in this case, where law enforcement maybe could have stepped to uber early on to identify and locate jason. >> but for now, jason is still on the road. tiana is raced to the hospital, in serious condition. >> i remember just being in and out of consciousness. a lot of things are a blur. >> those bullets fractured both of tiana's legs, her left arm, and another bullet actually entered her liver, where it still is. >> when you feel something moving in your body, as a woman, you remember your baby growing inside of you, and that's supposed to be a great feeling. but a bullet traveling in your body was not what i ever would imagine that i would have to go through.

i remember being so angry because i couldn't walk. you know, i was like a child all over again. >> in a newsroom, you're always listening to the scanners. you're always monitoring the scanners. >> county sheriff, 13379 and units, just be advised, the county's taking a call of one individual shot. high meadows drive. >> female down, she's been shot several times. >> there was, you know, a report of a shooting. the initial shooting involving tiana carruthers, we didn't hear any more. so, that pretty much went, you know, by unreported. >> jason dalton, during his getaway, ultimately strikes a vehicle nearby, runs a red light, he sideswipes a car. >> i was headed north with my wife. we were going to a place to pick up some ice cream. he came out of nowhere. he just came out from behind the other cars that were parked

waiting at that red light and ended up hitting me. >> kalamazoo county 911. >> i need an officer to come out, i was just involved in an accident where a guy ran a red light and hit me in the intersection. >> the equinox was still operable, but it had some very obvious front-end damage to it. it would have been easy, especially for a police officer, to identify it. if there'd have been a bulletin on the news that we're looking for a silver equinox with front end damage. it was very unique. >> he wanted to switch cars at this point. jason called his wife and asked her to meet him at his parents' home. >> he gave her a gun, said, i'm not going to tell you what i'm going to do, but when you watch the 11:00 news tonight, you'll know that it was me. (man) what if my type 2 diabetes takes over? what if all i do isn't enough? or what if i can do diabetes differently?

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after jason dalton shot tiana carruthers, he then sped off, driving erratically, sideswiped a car, and then went and met his wife at his parents' house. >> his parents spend time out of state, and they weren't home at the time. >> he starts having a conversation with his wife, which she thinks is very strange, completely out of character for him. >> he told a story to explain the damage to their vehicle. >> told her that he was being shot at by cab drivers and made some statement that they don't like uber drivers. >> he would not look her in the eye. he refused to look her in the eye. >> he was acting paranoid. he went into the house, retrieved a taurus handgun, and tucked it in her waist band and said, you need to keep this

on you. he also told her just to stay with the kids and not to leave the house. >> he said, "you can't go to work on monday. you can't take the kids to school on monday." >> it was totally out of character for him, and she was bewildered. she didn't know what was going on or why he was talking that way. she had never seen anything like that from him. >> he said, i'm not going to tell you what i'm going to do, but when you watch the 11:00 news tonight, you'll know that it was me. >> i don't know that there was anything that she could have or should have done in that moment. looking back at it now, that's the place where you say, i wish she would have done something differently. >> and then he left. originally, there was a humvee at the home that he wanted to take. however, when that car wouldn't start, he took a different car that belonged to his parents, a dark-colored chevy hhr. >> he was now in this dark-colored hhr. so, now the person they were looking for, who was involved in this shooting in this silver

equinox, wasn't in that car anymore. >> he goes home and he switches guns. the gun at the carruthers scene didn't work perfectly. he took that glock model 19 and he left it on his workbench and he grabbed a walther 9 millimeter and went back out. >> he took some uber rides. >> so, he's already shot this woman. he doesn't even know if she's alive. he probably assumes she's dead, and he's picking up people and dropping people off. just think about that. >> some of his riders said really, the only thing that was unique about their ride was they were keeping an eye out for a silver equinox, and here comes a guy in a dark hhr. he says, oh, yeah, i'm jason. i'm the guy you're looking for. sorry, i had car trouble, or something like that, and they get in the car. >> one passenger said that he was listening to the radio, singing along. >> being one of those people in that uber, can you imagine what that would have been like for them? i can't -- i can't even.

it's just something that you would never in a million years think of. >> and all around kalamazoo, unsuspecting families have no idea what jason dalton is up to or that he could pose a danger to the community. we're talking about families like the smiths, who are about to have their own encounter with dalton at a local car dealership. >> when you think of people who live in kalamazoo county, you think of the smith family. mom laurie, dad rich, son tyler, daughter emily. close-knit, very tight family. >> rich, he was the life of the party. >> my brother and my dad, their personalities were identical. they were super close. tyler was 17. he was a soccer player. very carefree attitude, you know, thought that nothing could

touch him. >> that's gonna leave a mark. >> when i first met alexis, you know, his first true love, they were just inseparable. i told him, i said, tyler, don't you dare break her heart. she is a sweet girl. he realized, yeah, you're right. >> tyler and rich smith were headed to the kia dealership to look at trucks. >> my brother wanted to have a vehicle that he could take up on the dunes. >> i was out with friends and my phone battery had died. >> i ended up getting sick and not feeling well and so i went home and i went to bed. >> when rich and tyler went to the car lot to look at trucks, his girlfriend, alexis, stayed in the car, in the backseat. >> rich and tyler started looking at the trucks that tyler had been looking at and wanted

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>> reporter: it's been about 4 1/2 hours since jason dalton shot tiana carruthers, and at this point he's actually been picking up other passengers. he switches cars.

he switches guns. he meets with his wife, and now he's pulling into a local car dealership. >> the used car lots and the car lots are lit up. >> it's a very busy intersection, and it's a pretty popular dealership. >> it's considered a safe area in kalamazoo. >> and tyler had gone out looking at trucks during the day, and then he was going to go back and show rich them. >> we hated dealing with car salesmen, so we always went after hours. >> richard and tyler smith at the seelye ford on stadium drive, under a bright light, looking at a ford f-150 pickup truck. it's this electric blue color. it gets your attention as you're driving by. >> and they're there with tyler's girlfriend, alexis cornish, who's sitting in the car. >> i don't know anything about

trucks and it was cold outside and i was tired. >> so, tyler and richard, looking at the trucks when jason dalton pulls up. jason gets out of the car. this is different from the other scenes. >> he walked up to tyler and his dad and asked them what they were looking at. they turned around and were like, the blue truck. and that's all the words that they got out at that time. >> kalamazoo county 911. >> hi, we just drove by the kia. what road are we on? 94 business, and a guy just shot some people in the parking lot. >> jason dalton walked up to them and started to shoot and shoot and shoot, round after round after round, until he had shot each of them. 16 shell casings on the scene. one shot nine times, one shot seven times.

>> they fell down. and that's when i ducked behind the seat so he couldn't look at me. >> that's the most terrifying thing in my mind, alexis cornish hiding in the back seat of a car, wondering how many seconds she had left in her life. >> the range rover parked, headlights on, sitting there. jason dalton is just steps away from alexis. >> he went to look at the black vehicle. and went to try and open the door to that vehicle and it was locked. he turned around and walked away. >> she didn't have a cell phone. so, just think, would her glowing screen have called attention to jason dalton? her life was spared that night. >> i got out of the car and looked around to see if i could

see any shadows, and then i went and grabbed tyler's phone out of his pocket and called 911. >> 911, what's your emergency? >> yes, my boyfriend and his dad just got shot at the seelye auto group. >> are they on the ground? >> yes, and they're not moving. >> okay, stay on the phone with me. i've got to get officers enroute. >> okay. >> i'm at an apartment complex literally less than a half a mile away across the street from the scene of the incident. with my over-headlights on i responded to the scene and are of in the less than a minute. >> just to advise you, you do have a witness over at the burger king parking lot. >> could you see who the person was that was shooting? >> no, i just turned because we heard gunshots. you could see the smoke from his gun and hear it as we drove by. >> well, we have several officers on the way. okay? >> okay, one police officer is just pulling in. >> in my head, i'm mentally preparing myself for a real shooting, possibly a suspect still there.

i pull in. i got two right now on the ground. i moved on to checking for if there's any signs of life, checking pulses. obviously still keeping in mind there may be a suspect in the area. and i'm by myself at that point. sometimes when you're by yourself, it feels like forever. after i identify that the victims were deceased, i saw a female on the phone in the backseat. >> is the officer out with you? >> he's right here. >> just you in here? >> yeah. >> okay, who else is here? okay. where's the suspect? where is the people that shot him? >> i don't know, he ran off somewhere that way. >> okay. we have two down. i have one female in the vehicle, a range rover. stand over by the vehicle, stand over by the vehicle, okay? last direction of the suspect, behind the kia building.

>> when officers arrived, the female was immediately patted down for weapons. a lot of times, callers are suspects. we treated everyone as a potential danger. >> i don't know where he came from. he came from over here, and he was like -- and he put his hood down. i don't know. all i know is he had gray hair. >> talking to the victim. >> she was very calm, but she wasn't panicking. she was in shock. >> did he come from in the building? >> i don't know if he came from in the building or he came from around the building. >> jason dalton has just shot tiana carruthers. he has also just murdered in cold blood a father and son,. and now he's back out there on the loose and no one knows where he's headed. >> and i'm gonna need two units on scene at the dealership with rifles to go with the k-9. >> i was probably the fourth or fifth officer on scene here. i knew that my job when i got

here was to get the dog out. we were told that he left on foot, so my job was to track him. >> he could have went either way around the building. >> was it easy for your dog, bodie, to pick up the scent? >> yeah, actually, it was. we locked on to the scent relatively quickly. the odor was still fresh. it was not -- it hadn't been that long since the crime had occurred. >> where did it lead you? >> we tracked basically from where the victims were found and we went right past the kia dealership. the track ended there. we assumed he got into a vehicle. >> you know, being able to take your son to a car lot and dream about what could be. when i think about that and what happened, it's just -- it's really unbearable to think about. >> the police officer got there and so he's like, i'm sorry, ma'am, but your husband and your

son were shot. and they didn't make it. and then i just screamed. and then i had to tell my twin sister -- i said, "you know the father and son that were shot at seelye?" and she just started freaking out. and she's like, no, no, it's not them. i said, "yeah. yeah, it is." >> it was incredibly cold-blooded. >> a father and a son shot. a teenage girl hiding in the car. and then 15 minutes later, a call comes in -- multiple shots at the cracker barrel parking lot. >> shots fired, cracker barrel. >> it was a madhouse. people were terrified. >> kalamazoo is a city with low crime. and so imagine, as this crime spree went on and on, police

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♪ when the devil comes ♪ when he activates his uber, that's when the horror begins. >> all of a sudden, you hear, pow, pow, pow. >> if i just keep moving. but he just continued to shoot. >> the alleged gunman is an uber driver.

>> how do you go from being a normal man, no criminal history, to killing all of these people in one night? >> reporter: you're thinking, there's going to be another shooting. >> why? just why? >> i'm not going to tell you what i'm going to do, but when you watch the 11:00 news tonight, you'll know that it was me. >> it literally took over my mind and body. >> the uber app? >> yes. i just tapped it. and then there was, like, a devil head that popped up. >> reporter: the devil head. how is that not madness? ♪ when the devil comes, you had better hide because hell is coming down ♪ >> reporter: it's been about five hours of terror in kalamazoo. jason dalton has shot a young mother. she's fighting for her life. he's murdered a father and a son. and just minutes later, five more people are shot. >> kalamazoo county 911.

>> i'm at the kalamazoo cracker barrel, and there's been gunshots in a car. >> okay. has anybody been hit? >> two cars have been shot up. >> i had just laid down in bed when my cell phone went off that we had a quadruple homicide. >> county units, shots fired. cracker barrel. multiple shots fired into a car. >> this is 143 on scene. >> i pulled in and saw two male subjects waving me down, trying to get my attention. they were pointing over to two parked vehicles, which ended up being the two victims' vehicles. >> anyone hurt? >> that woman -- somebody over there, looks like -- these all three are all shot. >> reporter: this the third shooting that day, and it's a tragic ending to what had started out as an ordinary night for a group of old friends. >> mary lou nye, mary jo nye, judy brown, barbara hawthorne, and a little girl who considered barbara her grandmother, abbie kopf, had gone to a live performance at a theater.

>> abbie was around a lot of older women. she would hang out with barb and all her friends. >> she was adopted by barb as a grandma. >> barb would take her to card games or to her sewing class or whatever. >> barbara hawthorne was a retired worker from kellogg's, the cereal maker. mary jo nye was a schoolteacher. and her sister-in-law, mary lou nye, was a retired employee from the department of motor vehicles in michigan. >> my wife made a heck of an apple pie. nobody's ever made one better as far as i'm concerned. >> judy brown was a caregiver for senior citizens. she took care of older people. >> they met at the cracker barrel, had dinner, and then they took one car -- because my wife didn't like driving any more than she had to. >> so, after having a wonderful time together, the women and abbie return to the cracker barrel parking lot. >> mary lou nye was in her van. the other women and the girl, abbie, were in the car. jason dalton drives up and opens

fire on mary lou nye in her van. the women respond, you know, are hysterical, and then that's when he opened fire on the other car, shooting all of them. >> reporter: and so you go up to the cars and what do you see then? >> i saw one victim in the driver seat of the minivan, and then i saw three subjects in the sedan. >> ma'am. ma'am, are you guys okay? >> that's when i heard barbara talking to dispatch on the phone, so i ran around to the right side. she does not have any information, elderly woman. >> and then that was when kdps officer brooks arrived on the scene. >> is she alive? >> no, this one's not. the one on the right is, though. >> reporter: so, trooper donnay is talking to barbara in the back, right? he's trying to help her out. >> yes. >> reporter: at what point do you notice that there's something actually living, alive, in the front seat? >> sergeant nielsen comes up. we both happen to look at the

same time and seen there was something moving. >> there's a kid in the front. >> he opens the door and sees abbie in the floorboard of the car. >> hello? hi. hi. hello? >> we see that she has an obvious gunshot wound to the head. we knew that we needed to try to stop the bleeding and try to preserve as much as we could. so that we could package her up so that when the ambulance got here, that we could get her on her way to the hospital. >> i believe we put her on the first ambulance, got her out of there right away. >> all right, barbara. we're going to bring you out, okay? >> barbara was still talking with us. she actually tried to help herself out of the vehicle. >> we gotta get you out of here, my dear. >> we gotta get you out, okay? >> she was actually still conscious and talking when i handed her over to the ambulance staff. >> one child is on the way to the hospital, probably going to die. >> my aunt called me. she asked me if i heard from barb and abbie, and i said, "no, i've tried calling them and i haven't."

and she said, "well, there's a crazy man out in kalamazoo on a shooting spree." my heart sunk because i kept texting them and there was no response. >> i kept calling her cell phone, leaving messages. i tried calling my sister's cell phone. and of course on both phones i was getting just straight to voicemail. >> we had cell phones from all of the victims and, like we always do, we had removed them and set them on the roof of the car. and i still remember to this day, all seemed like they were ringing at the same time. >> did you guys see him leave the scene already? >> i saw -- it was a black hhr, or a dark blue hhr. he flew out of here. >> reporter: surveillance video from both the cracker barrel and that car dealership show that the shooter is driving an hhr. what police don't know is that he is the same person who was called in as the erratic uber driver in the silver chevy equinox.

>> and jason dalton continues to go on and drive his uber and pick up passengers throughout the night. >> the house phone rang, and it was about quarter to midnight. she said, "well, we're from bronson methodist." she said, "i'm trying to find the parents of an abigail." i said, "i'm her mother," and i said "what's happened? what's going on?" and that's when she told me she was shot in the head. her comment was that you need to get up here as soon as possible because she's not going to make it through the night. >> breaking news coming in out of kalamazoo county right now. >> after the shooting at the cracker barrel, that's when the live news coverage begins as people try to figure out what's going on. >> police have responded to reports of a shooting here at the cracker barrel. >> currently, we have three dead here and two that are being treated for life-threatening injuries at bronson. >> as i was falling asleep, i saw that there was a shooting, and then within a half an hour we got a phone call. they just said, come down. we have barbara at the hospital.

we need you to come down. >> gene drove 90 all the way there. >> it's about a half an hour drive. >> we ran almost every red light. we made it towards the hospital, and they had the hospital locked down. >> it was already such a random series of events. how do you know that this shooter, if you live in that area, isn't gonna show up in your street, on your street, and start shooting at you? so people were afraid. >> they weren't letting people in. i said, i was called down here, you know, to see my aunt. can you tell me what she's here for? and they said, well, she's been shot. and there was no -- there was no story in my head that would lead to aunt barbara ever getting shot. >> they walked us up to this room in the icu, and that's when i saw abbie for the first time. a couple hours later, she

flatlined. then they tried to do cpr. and that was horrific to see. we told them to let her go, that if it was meant to be, it was meant to be. at that point, we started to say our good-byes. i was holding abbie's hand, and i looked right at her and i said, abbie, if you can hear me, this is mama. i said, if you can hear me at all, i said, give me a sign. and she squeezed me. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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very tense situation in kalamazoo county. multiple people have been shot and killed. >> definitely a serial killer. >> we have multiple crews on the scene. >> suspect could be a white male in his 50s. >> at this point, we know that there are multiple shootings. there are still questions. is this one person? what's the connection between these women in the cracker

barrel, a father and son in a car dealership parking lot, and a young mother in the parking lot of her condominium complex? everyone was starting to really panic. people were panicked. what is going on in kalamazoo county? >> we know this is terrifying. all the police that are possible to collect are on this tonight. >> reporter: that fear and panic in the community is not at all unreasonable because what they don't know is jason dalton is back in his car. and he's picking up passengers again in their streets. >> we are asking the public to be vigilant. >> it's a saturday night in kalamazoo. people are out, eating dinner, at bars, planning to take an uber. and as this is going on, shooting after shooting after incident, word starts to spread. >> my dad said the guy was driving a chevy hhr and the car said chevy equinox. we're like, "i don't know, it could be him," but i was like, i had this gut feeling i shouldn't get in the car. >> they didn't get into the car with him, but other passengers

did. they later told the media they not only did ride with jason dalton but they asked him point blank if he was the shooter. >> i halfheartedly joked at him and said, you're not the shooter, are you? he said, no, and i said, "are you sure?" and he said, "no, i'm just really tired." >> my buddy scott actually said something to him. "hey, this isn't the hhr, you aren't the guy, are you?" and he kind of just said, "no." >> reporter: what is unique about this rampage is that jason seems to toggle between this murderous rage and calmly driving his uber passengers. the reason law enforcement hasn't yet caught up with jason dalton is haven't yet made the connection between the rampage shooter and the dark hhr and the uber driver in the chevy equinox. >> this was a cold blooded killer, an active shooter that was on the loose. >> reporter: you're thinking there's going to be another shooter.

>> yeah, that was our fear. we put out a bol, be on the lookout. >> white male, possibly an hhr, they said. >> i assigned the guys that were working for me to start monitoring the downtown district. on any given night there's hundreds of people out walking around. >> when i was online, i went and started checking the kalamazoo news, and that's when i started reading about a shooting at the cracker barrel. it said that, so many dead, one injured, and i was just hoping that mary was the one that was injured. >> going to the show that night turned out to be the last outing for this group of friends. the four women were shot and killed. >> i turned on that porch light and sat in that chair until 6:00 in the morning or whatever it is when the state policeman showed up to give me the official news. >> your mother was just shot and

killed. well, i was numb. i was still trying not to believe it. >> the doctor comes in, and it's just like the movies. they come in and say, "you know, i hate to tell you this, but your aunt is dead." it was very surreal. >> reporter: abbie's surrogate grandmother barb has just passed away, and in that same hospital, little abbie seems to have given up on life. and her death is reported on live tv. >> unfortunately, the other female, teenager, 14 years old, has passed away as well. >> they unhooked her from the ventilator machine. they started hauling stuff out of the room and they put a blanket up, almost to her neck. and at that point we started to say our good-byes. and i had my head on her chest,

and i told her that i loved her. i heard something and i told the nurse that i thought she had a heartbeat. the nurse came over and tried to and at that point, the nurse said holy [ bleep ]. she was smacking buttons on the wall and people were flying back in and they had her all hooked back up again. >> reporter: so it was actually in saying good-bye to her that you actually realized she was still alive. >> yeah. and at that point i was holding abbie's hand. and i looked right at her, and i said, abbie, if you can hear me, this is mama, give me a sign. and she squeezed me. i knew right there she was back and she was going to fight like hell. >> reporter: it has been eight hours of complete terror in kalamazoo. jason dalton has killed six people. two others are clinging to life in area hospitals. but what dalton doesn't know is that now police are closing in on him. you start to patrol again. around midnight, things start to heat up.

>> i had contacted a friend of mine, sergeant harrison. him and i were talking and he says, i think i found him. >> i heard radio traffic advising that he is following a black hhr that just left from the bars downtown. it sounded like they were coming right at me. and within minutes, i saw the black hhr coming towards me and followed by harris. >> i believe he was the eighth or ninth black chevy hhr we had stopped that night. >> the vehicle turned onto ransom street, at which point harris activated his emergency lights, and i pulled in alongside him and activated my emergency lights. >> when he came to a stop, he just sat in the vehicle. >> k-9 bodie and i got up behind sergeant harrison. we got out to the side in case for some reason he decided to flee on foot. >> you had no idea whether or not he would start opening fire on you. >> absolutely not. we just assumed it was going to be a shootout. >> the police were expecting the worst. >> i pulled up right next to harrison. we were side by side.

>> want me to yell at him? windows down. >> driver, stick your hands out the window. >> want to approach, how you want to do it? >> all right, ready? >> we approached the vehicle. i stayed as a cover officer, while harris made contact with the driver. he got him out of the car, and he started to frisk him. >> anything in your pockets at all? >> gun. >> gun. >> we got one in custody. >> he's caught in the chevy hhr with the gun that killed the people at the cracker barrel and at seelye in this pocket. >> we placed the handcuffs on him, and i found a bullet in one of his pockets. >> he surrendered to them peacefully. >> i can't believe he didn't come out shooting. >> he didn't fight for us or want to go -- >> what a [ bleep ] >> i am surprised that he didn't want to go at it with -- figure that would be suicide by cops. >> spread your legs for me, sir. put your arms back up for me. >> bulletproof vest. >> and then we put him in a patrol car. >> he had body armor on?

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so, jason dalton, now sitting in this squad car, arrested after this shooting

spree, and he's headed to the first of two police interrogations. >> i know you've been searched, but just per protocol, we just had to search you again and all that, okay? >> they are trying to figure out why this happened. what was the motive. >> you're jason, correct? >> yes. >> okay. >> how does he react to you? >> he was very soft spoken, very average. >> how have you been treated? >> i've been treated okay. >> jason dalton's demeanor was docile, i would say passive. >> what would you like to do right now? >> i'm -- kind of just whatever you guys are going to do. >> the real key in getting people to talk to you is getting them to feel comfortable and to fully start with a very mundane sort of nice approach, get them talking. >> you seem like a pleasant person. >> well, thank you, and i appreciate you're being nice to me, too. >> its not our job to be rude. i mean, we're human just like

you. >> we tried to then start with the beginning of his day. >> how much sleep have you had in the last 24 hours? >> i think i've been going for probably more than 24 hours. just -- >> is that normal? >> he was not aggressive at all. he just chose not to answer some of our questions. >> do you know how many people you killed tonight?. >> i would like to just plead the fifth. >> okay. >> he keeps pleading the fifth. i don't want to talk about it. i don't want to give you particulars. >> what would you like to talk about in here? >> i really don't want to talk about anything. >> but as time goes on, he becomes more comfortable. >> reporter: once he starts to finally give investigators specifics of what happened that day, he starts talking about this pivotal moment he had with his first passenger of the day, matt mellen. >> once he has mr. mellen in the car, he starts driving erratically.

mr. mellen obviously is getting extremely upset. >> and i accelerated out the west main hill and it was like -- and i made this corner, and i hit a car. >> each detail is important because it's another piece of the puzzle in this entire crime where you have multiple crime scenes. >> a turn, squeal, and then it's like -- come to a complete stop. and he just bailed out of the car. and i'm like, "you got to your destination, sir." and i just took off as fast as i could go. >> he drove into an apartment complex and came across a black female. >> i reached in and i grabbed my glock. and -- and pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow. and i believe that i dumped the whole magazine there. i know i killed her and i don't

even -- >> why do you assume that you killed her? >> because how could you survive that many gunshots? >> and what's so bizarre about this interrogation is that it seems that dalton is marveling at his own handiwork. >> there was absolutely no emotion. there was no fluctuation in his voice. >> the glock jammed. >> during that? >> during that. and i cleared the jam to finish. >> as he goes on, he reveals details that we did not know previously. >> such as when he approached mary lou nye at the cracker barrel parking lot. >> i walk up to this lady and i ask her -- i ask her if she could spare a dollar to make america great again. and she told me that she didn't have the dollar to spend, and i shot her. >> mm-hmm. >> i remember that i shot a small person in the head. >> when you say a small person, what do you mean? >> i think like a child. >> and his voice changed, his voice changed drastically. he said, i shot a little girl. >> he felt badly for the child and the family of the child, but he didn't express any remorse

for anybody else. >> i'm not a killer, and this is what i'm -- and i know that i have killed. >> yeah, you understand that. you know that. >> that's the odd part. he said that he's not a killer, but he knows he's killed. >> reporter: during the course of the interrogation, police spend a lot of time trying to get dalton to explain to them why he chose these particular victims, but dalton said it was all random. >> what's the connection between all of these people? is there any connection for you between any of these people? >> no. >> and we just kept asking him, why? what happened? what happened in your life to make you do this? >> then finally, after a long pause, he had quite the response. >> if you guys only knew. >> okay. >> it would blow your mind. ♪ ♪

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♪ my name is harry campbell, and i'm the founder of "the rideshare guy." it's a blog, podcast, and youtube channel for uber and lyft drivers. i've heard a lot of stories from people out on the road, but never anything as crazy as what jason dalton told the police. >> is uber u-b-e-r? >> mm-hmm. >> so you just recently joined up with them? >> yeah. am i okay to talk about what happened? >> yeah. >> obviously, the goal of these detectives is to get to motivation. what drove jason dalton to commit these crimes? >> the one thing that no one in this entire country will ever forget is a killer who says he was motivated by an uber app. >> i know you guys are going to have a hard time believing this, but it literally took over mind and body. >> the uber app? >> yes.

>> it made no sense to anyone that the uber app would take over him and force him to go on this shooting spree. >> this is the app, as it looked in 2016 when jason dalton was driving for uber. >> reporter: this is the driver app, right? >> yes. >> he remembers seeing the symbol of the eastern star, and that started this whole thing. >> are you talking eastern star like the ma sonic eastern star? >> yes. >> reporter: jason dalton talks about the eastern star. could this have been the eastern star? it's a hexagon. >> i mean, it is a hexagon. i don't know. i guess this part, i think, really looks like part of the eastern star. >> reporter: these are stars, right? i mean, they're triangles. >> i think it's kind of like one of those mind games where you see what you want to see. >> right. >> i really didn't even see what the symbol -- i just tapped it. and then it was, like, a devil head that popped up. it was some type of horned head, like a cow head or something. and then i pressed that button

and that's where all the problems went after that. >> unbelievable. nobody believed him. >> reporter: jason dalton talked about seeing a devil somewhere? do you have any idea what he was talking about? >> so, this is actually the uber logo at the time on the passenger app. to me, it looks like a "u," but i think, to jason dalton, it may have been the devil horns right here at the top. >> jason's not the first person to come up with a totally absurd justification for killing someone. >> this uber thing, when it takes you over -- >> i know this sounds unusual to you. >> no, no. >> as the story went on about what happened, he said the uber app changed from red to black and that he got an assignment. >> so it was like he was a puppet. >> it was red when i first started. >> okay. >> it switched from red to black. when it's in that black mode, it literally has control of you. >> reporter: what's he talking about?

>> i'm not really sure. i wasn't believing any of it. but if it's something that's going to make him talk, you're not going to want to shut him down. >> i mean, it would do a little blink at me. >> the phone would? >> mm-hmm. and then i didn't understand what those signified. >> well, what does it signify? >> i believe that one bing means yes and two binges means no. >> in terms of what? >> what it wants you to do. >> when you get a request from a passenger, you hear a dinging. >> there's no one ding or two ding. >> it's a dinging noise. it'll keep dinging for 10 or 12 seconds, unless you tap the screen to accept the ride. >> he said he was hearing these sounds coming from the phone, and he said that was the reason why he did not shoot the police

officers. >> when they pulled over, i almost reached for my gun. and the phone beep, beep, beep. and i reached over and tapped the phone to stay logged in. >> it was weird. he says the app went from being black to being red. >> when the officer stop pd you, it felt like whatever was next -- >> that's the reason why i didn't -- >> shoot him. >> yeah, exactly. then the app went from black to red. it was back -- i had my presence. >> do you think he's making it up as he is going along? >> i have no idea. >> how do you go from being a normal man, no criminal history, to killing all of these people in one night? >> i remember colt, his mom and dad, just crying saying, we just spent christmas with him and he was fine. and how can this happen?

>> many people, most of us, i suppose, have some homicidal ideation. we obviously don't act on it. to get from thinking about that to actually doing that, there's usually some event, some trigger. >> reporter: did jason dalton have marital trouble? >> not that we are aware of. >> reporter: did jason dalton have any known emotional trouble? >> not that we were aware of. >> none. >> reporter: criminal record? >> nope. >> zero. >> reporter: financial problems? >> not that we know of. >> reporter: was he an extremist of any kind? >> there's no evidence of that. >> in my view, there is nothing obvious to sort of -- that stands out. can you really sit here and say what caused jason to do that? and i think the answer is, we just don't know. >> so, is using the excuse as an uber app a way to be thinking, i'm going to have an insanity defense? uber app. was he that smart? >> and i think the detectives also thought that, that this guy is teeing the ball up of, i'm not in my right mind and i might be able to get out of this.

the problem is, he's so rational throughout the entire interview, he basically blows his own cover story. >> for jason, the next step is facing a judge in court. >> his victims are going to have to figure out how to move on. >> and she walked in and said, honey, you were shot in the head. and i went like this and touched it, and she said, don't touch it. attacks followed me home. it got so bad, that i curled up in a dark closet. that was the day i asked for nurtec. nurtec is the only medication that can treat and prevent my migraine attacks, all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. without a migraine, i can be there for others. talk to your doctor about nurtec today.

how are you doing between practices? i feel pretty good. surrounding myself with a great team. de'aaron we're going to take a quick look at your knee with ultrasound. everything is looking great. but not just for me. for them. it's great to see you again man. thanks jb. for all that is me, for all that is you, kaiser permanente.

♪ this little light of mine, i'm gonna let it shine ♪ ♪ let it shine, let it shine, let it shine ♪ >> people were heart broken over it. and you feel helpless. they felt helpless. so what they could do was mobilize as a community. >> one of the survivors, a 14-year-old girl. >> abigail kopf, still days after the shooting, there was very little hope that she was

going to survive. she had a plate put into her head because her skull was blown apart. there were so many ups and downs in her recovery. but then -- >> hi, sweetie. >> here's this little girl. >> can you wave? >> doing rehabilitation at the mary free bed hospital. >> go ahead. >> and we see her lying in her hospital bed with that smile. and then, seeing the images of her learning to walk again. >> good job. good. >> she was shot in the head, and this little girl refused to give up. >> i almost died. and my mom was a basket case. she sat on my bed the whole eight days, five days -- however long i was in a coma. >> every minute. >> she just sat there and waited for me to wake up. >> did she smile when she saw you open your eyes again? was it a happy moment? >> i remember her crying with

happy tears. >> are you crying? >> yes, i am. >> and then a couple weeks later, i said, "what happened to me?" and the doctor said, don't sugarcoat it. and she walked in and said, honey, you were shot in the head. and i went like this and touched it and she said, don't touch it. and the bullet shattered my skull. >> she cried. and she didn't say anything at that point. and then a couple hours later she'd ask me again, what happened to me? 'cause she couldn't remember it. she couldn't retain it. >> reporter: did you have to go through the same reaction of her, absorbing it and crying? >> yeah, each time. >> reporter: are your memories from before the shooting foggy? >> yes. especially my past. like when i was younger. it's long gone. i asked about grandma barb. when i found out she was shot, i almost lost it. i did lose it. >> reporter: what's your last memory of being with barb? >> her hugs.

she had the best hugs and the best laugh. if it wasn't for her, i wouldn't be here. i miss her unconditionally. every single day. >> reporter: have you watched any of the news with -- seen jason dalton? >> yes. every time i see him i flip him off. i can't stand him. sometimes i'd like to trade places with him. to where he could have the gunshot wound, and i could be normal. but not in jail. >> the first time i was going to court, i -- i wasn't ready. >> it was an early hearing. all the emotions were still very raw to everyone. from the moment he sat down, and i was just a few feet from him at the time, you could tell there was something not right about him. >> ms. carruthers was afraid. she was going to walk into a courtroom and face a man who had shot 15 rounds at her, who had

changed her life forever. >> may it please the court, the people would call tiana carruthers. >> i tried to prepare myself, and i was telling myself, you can do this. you know, you have to do it. i was the only one who really talked to this man, and if i was going to put him away, then i needed to step up and do what i needed to do. and i was like, he has no control, but he had the control at that time. >> and then what happened? >> i seen him coming. and, um, i -- i -- >> in cars. >> no. they gave bags -- these old people, they had these old black bags that are called -- they're black. they're black bags. and people drive around and you look at 'em. it gets real like, "it's time." and people look and then that's when to tell people it's time to get to temple. >> mr. dalton, you need to listen to your attorney, right? >> yeah, you need to get to temple 'cause you need to get going, because it's called intimidator bags.

>> you need to be quiet in today's proceedings, okay? >> yeah. >> so, ms. carruthers, are you okay? or do we need to take a minute? >> take it, take it, take it. take it. take it! [ crying ] >> it just took me back to the playground, took me right back there to that moment, and i -- i just broke down. >> it became obvious that he was at the very least trying to emotionally terrorize a witness, and very properly and very quickly, the deputies removed him from the courtroom. [ crying ]

>> he was talking about some obscure things, like black plastic bags and the old people. it seemed sort of these ramblings of a madman. >> it seems awfully convenient, right? if you put him in a situation where now he can say some nonsense that doesn't make any sense and that'll support this idea that something is going on. >> reporter: so, he exploited the moment. >> i think so. >> i agree. >> for someone to have lived a completely normal life for 40-plus years and then in one day do everything that is counter to what normal, sane people do -- how is that not madness? >> whether or not it's an act of madness or the act of a sane person is different from the legal standard of what makes you criminally responsible for your actions. the fact that he changed cars, the fact that he changed guns, the fact that he put on a bulletproof vest -- that shows that he knew what he was doing.

that shows that he knew his actions were wrong. >> there is no other way of defending this case, other than for him to make up some story about mental illness. he has zero history of mental illness. this isn't how mental illness works, that you have a sudden onset where at 5:00 in the afternoon on saturday, february 20th, you become overwhelmingly mentally ill and unable to control your actions. and then it turns off at midnight and you surrender to the police and it never happens again. that's not how this works. >> as the trial date drew nearer, there was anxiousness. is justice, you know, going to be served? >> then the prosecutors get a call that no one was expecting, a shock to everybody. >> i've wanted this for quite a while.

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as the trial date drew nearer, there was anxiousness. what's going to happen? >> jury selection begins tomorrow in the murder trial of jason dalton. >> reporter: this trial is about to start, and then suddenly, what everybody had been expecting that jason dalton is going to somehow try to plead insanity, goes away. >> i think he was influenced these last few days by his family. >> i was surprised and a little bit shocked because i was getting all of our material ready to go to trial, and i got a text from the prosecutor's office. >> you are doing this voluntarily of your own free will? >> yes, i've wanted this for quite a while. >> how do you plead? >> guilty. >> we did not expect a guilty plea from jason dalton that day, but he pled guilty. >> psychological professionals had examined mr. dalton and did not find that he met the legal standards. >> reporter: interesting. so, jason dalton might still think that he had been controlled by the devil uber app. however, his attorney said,

that's not gonna hold up in court because nobody believes you. >> that's certainly possible. >> you, jason brian dalton, you're sentenced to a period of life in prison without the possibility of parole. >> i've reported on lots of horrible things, but this is one and the sequence of events, and these families, and these victims, it'll stay with me forever. >> i have lost the woman i married for 41 years. and i lost my little sister. >> you are nothing but a pile of worthless evil. worthless. >> why? just why? >> were you mad? what kind of a person walks up to a father and a son and shoots them over and over and over again until they don't move? >> i've tried to hate you.

i've tried to hate you. i pause, replay, and relive every single moment. you tried to kill us all. you failed. i'm standing here, right here in your face, in front of you. how does it make you feel? look at me. how does it make you feel? just look at me. look at me, please. >> why? that is only going to be known to you and to our creator. >> where are the answers? we know there are victims. we know an uber app is blamed. but it is frustrating. why did this happen? we may never know. >> reporter: what we do know is that dalton says it all started with an uber app. uber tells abc safety is a priority. now when you're taking an uber, you can reach 911 directly through the app.

there is also the option for users to get live help from a safety agent. but the ability to reach someone in case of emergency was only put in place two years after the shooting. could it be easier if there were a reason? >> it would make me feel better. i don't understand why it was me. why it had to be me and why it had to be grandma barb. we both didn't deserve it. >> she always wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride. so i took her ashes to sedona and went in a hot air balloon. and left her out there in the desert. so she's right where she wanted to be. >> we always believed that she was going to outlive me. we made discussions what to do when i died, but we never really contemplated what i would do. >> i don't want to go grocery shopping because i end up picking up things, forgetting that they're not here.

and so it's just painful. >> we don't want them to be remembered by, oh, that's the people that got killed by the uber driver. i want them to remember, oh, those are the two, loving, caring, compassionate people that were taken way too soon. >> him gunning me down, it doesn't define me. tiana now? i'm strong. stronger than i ever could imagine. >> they say kalamazoo strong. this is a community, you can knock us down, but we're gonna get right back up. >> a resilient town. and we can tell you tonight that tiana caruthers was a filest for the congressional medal of honor citizen award for shielding those children from jason dalton's bullets. >> a fearless reminder to keep your families and loved ones

close and to cherish them every day. thanks so much for watching. i'm debra roberts. >> and i'm david muir. from all of us here at "20/20" and abc news, good night. the airport is a busy place to be today, with this expected to be the peak travel day for the holiday. so far, things are running fairly smoothly for those who are flying. good evening, i'm ama daetz and i'm dan ashley. >> thanks for joining us. remember what happened last year when southwest had its meltdown that left holiday travelers stranded for days? well, we haven't seen anything close to that so far, fortunately. here's a live look at san francisco international airport tonight. it has had its share of troubles, though. today more 00