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Alleged Kalamazoo Shooter Picked Up Uber Fares During, After Killing Spree

Posted by timothy on from the work-around-your-schedule dept.

theodp writes: Police allege that Uber driver Jason Dalton shot 8 people in three different locations, killing six people. But the story gets even crazier, Gizmodo reports, as Dalton allegedly not only picked up Uber passengers between shootings, he continued to drive people around after his last shooting at 10:24pm at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. One of his last passengers before Dalton was arrested even joked, "You're not the shooter, are you?" Uber Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan issued the following Statement on Kalamazoo: "We are horrified and heartbroken at the senseless violence in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Our hearts and prayers are with the families of the victims of this devastating crime and those recovering from injuries. We have reached out to the police to help with their investigation in any way that we can."

6 of 312 comments (clear)

  1. Uber does not seem to be involved... by sjbe · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Ok they keep mentioning the Uber thing as if it is somehow relevant. The guy killed some people then did some unrelated stuff and then was caught. Why do I give a shit that the unrelated stuff happened to be driving for Uber? I'm pretty sure some regular taxi drivers do some nefarious shit too sometimes. If he used Uber to find victims then that is relevant but I've heard no indication that is the case here. If Uber did background checks on this person then all it indicates is the general futility of most background checks. I know Uber is all the watercooler talk these days but this is just bad journalism.

    I have no stance on Uber. Never used them and I have no firm opinion (positive or negative) regarding their company, products or services. I just don't see how they are relevant to this story.

    1. Re:Uber does not seem to be involved... by fluffernutter · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I saw these kinds of comments coming, and I googled on 'taxi driver shooters'. I found many Taxi drivers getting shot in the US but none actually doing any shootings. The taxi industry knows who they are, so it is far less likely someone who is on the edge will engage in an industry that takes their fingerprints before they can participate.

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      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    2. Re:Uber does not seem to be involved... by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Freedom includes freedom to enter a profession of your choosing. Medallion systems and uselessly onerous regulations step on this.

      Some prefer government carve up markets at the behest of entrenched business interests...because they hate businesses controlling government for its own benefit.

      Wait. That can't be right.

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      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  2. Re: how is that relevant? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's relevant because Uber maintains they need not abide by any regulations to keep their customers safe. They flout laws, and if it should be found out that this person had something in his past that would have disqualified him from a regular taxi job it's going to be VERY relevant.

    Granted, some people can snap without warning and without history, but basically Uber opened itself up to this based on public corporate behavior. Nobody would care if they didn't constantly make a spectacle of themselves ignoring laws.

  3. Re:where were you? by Zocalo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think you missed the sarcasm in the OP's post. One of the NRA's arguments against gun control is that if everyone had guns this kind of thing wouldn't happen because the good guys with the guns would either bring down the shooter almost immediately, or the knowledge of this would deter the shooter from drawing their gun(s) in the first place. The counter argument by those pro-gun control is that this never actually happens, even in states like Michigan where the gun laws are loose enough to make it possible that it might. The counter-counter argument is that shooters in such states tend to target places with restrictions on carrying guns... and round and round it goes with no progress in any direction.

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    UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
  4. Re: how is that relevant? by silentcoder · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is the company who bragged about how their revenue spiked during the Sydney shooting - all the people calling Uber because they are desperate to get the hell out of the crossfire...

    I get the feelingthat "giving a shit about people's lives" is even lower on their priority list than most corporations - which takes some doing.

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    Unicode killed the ASCII-art *