KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The man accused of shooting eight people, killing six of them, back in February while working as an Uber driver in the Kalamazoo area has been bound over to stand trial on all charges.
Jason Dalton was found competent to stand trial last month on six counts of open murder, two counts of assault with intent to murder and eight felony weapons charges. After witness and survivor testimony on Friday, during which Dalton had to be removed from the courtroom after an outburst, a judge decided there is probable cause to send Dalton to trial on those charges.
VIDEO: Kalamazoo shooting suspect Jason Dalton dragged out of court
Prosecutors said Dalton gunned down six people and wounded two others in the Kalamazoo area over several hours on Feb. 20. Survivor Tiana Carruthers was testifying at the time of Dalton's outburst, and she began sobbing.
Carruthers, who was the first person shot, had the courage to speak at Dalton's hearing. However, Dalton began speaking out himself during Carruthers' testimony. He began babbling incoherently.
"Aviator cars. No! They gave bags, black bags they are called ... that people drive around and they look ... and that's when you tell people you need to get to temple. Yeah, you need to get to temple, you need to get going because it's called intimidator bags," he said.
His second outburst ended the testimony. The judge ordered a recess after Dalton was escorted from the courtroom. He watched the rest of Friday afternoon's court hearing from a jail cell, where he had to be held down by guards. He was shown talking to himself at times.
Police have quoted Dalton as saying a "devil figure" on Uber's app was controlling him during the shootings. He was driving for Uber that night.
Read: Kalamazoo shootings suspect told police Uber app controlled him 'like A.I.'