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Latest On Kalamazoo Shooting

WMUK

Update February 21 5:10 p.m. Six people are dead and two wounded after a mass shooting Saturday night in Kalamazoo County. Police arrested 45-year-old Jason Brian Dalton shortly after midnight in downtown Kalamazoo. He's accused of shooting people at an apartment complex in Richland, at a car dealership in Kalamazoo, and at a restaurant in Texas Township over a period of several hours.

Update February 21 8:54p.m. The Battle Creek Enquirer reports on the Battle Creek Community Foundation creating a new fundin the wake of the Kalamazoo shooting.  The "Help Now" Fund is designed to "help the community grieve, heal and address violence." 

Several vigils for the victims and their families will be held, including one at Centerpoint Church, 2345 N. 10th Street, Sunday evening at 7 p.m. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo will hold a special Mass at Saint Augustine Church on Michigan Avenue in Kalamazoo Monday afternoon at 12:10. Another vigil is planned Monday evening at 6 at First Congregational Church, 345 W. Michigan Avenue, in Kalamazoo.

At a news conference Sunday morning, Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeffrey Getting offered condolences to the victims and their families. Getting says it’s “hard to put into words the impact” of the violence.

"There’s all these emotions and then you put on top of that, 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," he says.

News reports and posts on social media after the shootings said Dalton was a driver for the ride-sharing service Uber. The company later confirmed that Dalton was one of its drivers and says it’s cooperating in the investigation. Uber says Dalton had passed a criminal background check.

Dalton will be arraigned Monday afternoon in Kalamazoo District Court. Some Western Michigan University Students aren’t happy that the university’s emergency messaging system didn’t warn them about the shootings.

Western senior Roger Brown says he was surprised by that because students were quickly notified about a robbery on campus Wednesday.

“We were notified about the robbery...right after it happened. But soon as the shooting occurred we were not notified. That really scares me and it really shows how WMU responds to things such as this.”

Western President Dunn has apologized for the university’s lack of information on the shooting. He says it’s looking into changes in procedures and ways to better use social media during emergencies. Dunn says Western will hold a campus-wide forum on the issue Monday at 7 p.m. in the Bernhard Center.

Update February 21 3:13p.m. Western Michigan University President John Dunn has issued a statement on the lack of a campus alert Saturday night. Dunn says "Clearly we failed last night to provide adequate information and updates."

Western's President the university is examining its guidelines, and exploring ways to use social media more effectively. Governor Rick Snyder has ordered flags lowered to half-staff for six days beginning on Monday to honor the victims of the shooting spree.

The Kalamazoo Gazette has a timelineof how the tragedy unfolded. The first shooting in Richland left a woman injured shortly after 5:30p.m. The suspect Jason Brian Dalton was taken into custody about seven hours later. In between two people were killed outside of the Seelye Kia dealership on Stadium Drive. Four more were killed and another injured in the parking lot of the Cracker Barrel off 9th Street in Texas Township.

Gordon Evans became WMUK's Content Director in 2019 after more than 20 years as an anchor, host and reporter. A 1990 graduate of Michigan State, he began work at WMUK in 1996.