Uber Driver Blames 'Demonic' App for Mass Shooting

He says he experienced 'full body takeover'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 15, 2016 1:23 AM CDT
Updated Mar 15, 2016 4:03 AM CDT
Uber Driver Blames 'Demonic' App for Mass Shooting
Jason Dalton of Kalamazoo Township, Mich., is arraigned via video in Kalamazoo, Mich., last month.   (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

The Uber driver accused of murdering six people in Michigan last month gave cops an explanation he said would blow their minds: The app made him do it. According to police reports obtained by MLive, Jason Dalton told police that the Uber app on his iPhone took over his body on Feb. 20, when he allegedly shot six strangers dead while continuing to accept driving assignments. Dalton said that when he opened the app, he "recognized the Uber symbol as being that of the Eastern Star and a devil head popped up on his screen and when he pressed the button on the app, that is when all the problems started," writes an officer who interviewed Dalton at length after the mass shooting in Kalamazoo.

Dalton, who said he remembered little about the shootings, "explained how you can drive over 100 mph and go through stop signs and you can just get places," the officer writes. "Dalton described the devil figure as a horned cow head or something like that and then it would give you an assignment and it would literally take over your whole body." Dalton, who faces charges including six counts of murder, has been ordered to undergo an evaluation to see if he is mentally fit to stand trial, the Guardian reports. According to police reports, he told officers he didn't use drugs and was reluctant to discuss the app because he didn't "want to come across as being a crazy person." (Dalton's wife has filed for divorce.)

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