Police: Kalamazoo shooting victim protected several children in weekend rampage

Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller says the actions of the first shooting victim during the weekend rampage in western Michigan protected several children.

Fuller told The Associated Press on Monday the woman was outside with three or four children Saturday at an apartment complex’s playground. When a man approached them in a car and she sensed trouble, Fuller said she put herself between the car and the children and told them to run to their nearby home.

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Authorities say the woman was shot multiple times and severely injured. Fuller says she has had surgeries and is improving but has a long road to recovery.

A prosecutor filed six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder against Jason Dalton, 45, of Kalamazoo Township in the series of shootings.

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The victims in the Saturday night shootings had no apparent connection to the gunman or to each other.

The attacks began outside the Meadows apartment complex on the eastern edge of Kalamazoo County, where a woman was shot multiple times.

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A little more than four hours later and 15 miles away, a father and his 18-year-old son were fatally shot while looking at cars at a car dealership.

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Fifteen minutes after that, five people were gunned down in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant. Four of them died.

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Two people were wounded, the woman shot at the apartment complex and a 14-year-old girl hit at the restaurant.

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A spokeswoman for Uber confirmed that Dalton was a driver for the company, but she declined to say whether he was driving Saturday night.

Uber prohibits both passengers and drivers from possessing guns of any kind in a vehicle. Anyone found to be in violation of the policy may be prohibited from using or driving for the service.