The Uber driver accused of killing six people in Kalamazoo, Michigan continued to pick up fares during a shooting rampage that lasted nearly seven hours Saturday.
Jason Dalton, 45, who worked as a driver for the ride-hailing service, is accused of shooting eight people at random in the span of about seven hours Saturday evening, where he continued to pick up customers during the series of attacks.
“How do you go and tell the families of these victims that they weren’t targeted for any reason other than they were there to be a target?” Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting said at a Sunday news conference.
The rampage began around 6 p.m. EST when a woman was shot multiple times outside of an apartment complex in east Kalamazoo County. About four hours later, a father and his 18-year-old son were fatally shot a car dealership. About 20 minutes later, five people were shot outside of a Cracker Barrel restaurant, four of the victims died as a result of the shooting.
READ MORE: Uber driver in custody after 6 killed in ‘random’ shooting rampage in Kalamazoo
According to WWMT West Michigan, one of Dalton’s apparent customers alerted police about the alleged gunman.
“It’s a pretty scary ordeal, especially to be so closely involved with it,” Matt Mellen told the local CBS affiliate. “I’m just happy I’m safe.”
WATCH: Uber driver accused of killing 6 arraigned in Michigan, denied bail. Kenneth Craig has the latest.
Mellen told CBS he was heading to his friend’s house around 4:30 p.m. when he got into Dalton’s car, about an hour and a half before Dalton allegedly started the shooting spree.
Mellen said the Uber driver was acting strange and that “alarm bells” should have gone off for him when Dalton allegedly introduced himself as someone other than the name on the ride-hailing smartphone app.
“We got maybe a mile from my house, he got a telephone call and after that telephone call he started driving really erratically, running stop signs,” Mellen explained. “We were kinda driving through medians, driving through the lawn and speeding along.”
The passenger said once Dalton came to stop, Mellen said he jumped from the man’s car, ran off and called police.
READ MORE: Uber says suspected Kalamazoo rampage gunman was driver for service
After fleeing, Mellen called his fiancée and told her about the ordeal. That’s when she posted a warning to her friends on Facebook not to get into Dalton’s car if they were planning on hailing an Uber Saturday night.
WATCH: Vigil held for Kalamazoo, Mich. shooting victims
Dalton was arrested without incident about 12:40 a.m. Sunday after his car was spotted leaving a bar. According to CBS, Dalton dropped off three customers at the pub just before his arrest.
The three customers told CBS that they were aware of the shootings and were a little uneasy to see Dalton’s vehicle pull up to the curb.
“Quiet really. We actually, my buddy Scott actually said something to him and said ‘this isn’t the car, you are not the guy are ya?’ and he kinda just said ‘no,’” Mark Dunton told the news station. “It’s crazy to think that someone could have gone out and just done all these horrible things and came to work straight-faced — like he’s just coming to work doing his job and just didn’t say much at all.”
WATCH: Police in Kalamazoo, Michigan are trying to determine what motivated a man with no criminal record to go on a shooting rampage. Mike Drolet reports.
Police have yet to determine what may have caused Dalton to allegedly go on the shooting rampage and target victims with no apparent connection to him or to each other.
The accused is due in court Monday where he will be formally charged.
–with files from The Associated Press.
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