00:00:04
[Music]
00:00:20
probably don't remember that that was
00:00:24
right when we brought Tyler home from
00:00:26
the hospital and you were enamored with
00:00:28
him
00:00:30
growing up in the Smith household was
00:00:33
never a dull moment
00:00:37
um we always had something going on
00:00:41
um we were very busy busy family
00:00:46
when I first saw Rich obviously I was
00:00:50
attracted to him I was dancing and you
00:00:55
know he asked me to dance and we had a
00:00:58
good time that day
00:01:01
this was at Kalamazoo Christian
00:01:03
you and Tyler and Dad uh Christmas that
00:01:07
was our last Christmas 2015 Christmas
00:01:10
yeah
00:01:13
throughout the day on February 20th 2016
00:01:16
there are various 911 calls made to
00:01:18
Kalamazoo dispatch two cars have been
00:01:21
shot up there's three people in one car
00:01:23
and one guy is not moving
00:01:27
I was at home in the evening I received
00:01:29
a few texts from friends that they
00:01:31
thought something was going on in
00:01:32
regards to someone shooting guns in the
00:01:35
community
00:01:37
he was an Uber driver not somebody that
00:01:39
we would think would go about killing
00:01:42
random people
00:01:44
you could see him fiddling with
00:01:46
something in his jacket pocket and he
00:01:49
approached both Tyler and Richard and
00:01:51
shot them
00:01:53
when I heard my mom scream so I was like
00:01:55
oh my gosh like maybe they got in an
00:01:57
accident and eventually
00:01:59
um somebody told me they're like no they
00:02:01
were killed they didn't they didn't
00:02:02
survive
00:02:05
I still have those days where has this
00:02:08
just been a really long bad dream or
00:02:13
like do I really have to go on without
00:02:16
them
00:02:17
it's weird where your mind takes you
00:02:20
more than a part of me
00:02:22
died too that day
00:02:25
and will never
00:02:27
[Music]
00:02:31
will never live again
00:02:43
[Music]
00:02:58
so yeah we just have a couple pictures
00:03:02
up here of rich and Tyler
00:03:06
this is Tyler's senior picture more of
00:03:09
Tyler when he was growing up
00:03:12
and Tyler had a Pontiac Solstice and so
00:03:16
one of his pictures for his senior
00:03:19
pictures was with his solstice
00:03:22
and it was on the beach he wasn't
00:03:24
supposed to be on the beach but he drove
00:03:27
that car right up there and we were able
00:03:29
to get the picture before we got in
00:03:31
trouble
00:03:32
he was a rebel like that
00:03:37
rich and I met at a local bar
00:03:42
I was
00:03:44
17 or 18. but every Thursday they had a
00:03:47
ladies night and uh so people under 21
00:03:52
could get in
00:03:54
and so we would go there to dance
00:03:56
he says that we met through
00:04:00
a friend of his when I was over at their
00:04:03
house and he rode up on jet skis
00:04:07
so there's a bit of a
00:04:08
[Music]
00:04:09
discrepancy as to how we met but
00:04:12
we met
00:04:15
that's the important part is that we met
00:04:18
my dad was a huge breakfast person like
00:04:21
every other meal could be like PB J but
00:04:24
breakfast had to be like pancakes eggs
00:04:27
sausage bacon you know potatoes the
00:04:30
whole nine yards it couldn't just be it
00:04:33
couldn't just be
00:04:34
boring
00:04:41
Rich was
00:04:45
[Music]
00:04:49
I'm gonna try not to cry
00:04:52
um
00:04:54
he was one of a kind
00:04:59
um
00:05:00
[Music]
00:05:01
he supported me no matter what even
00:05:05
um even if I was wrong
00:05:09
[Music]
00:05:10
my brother was in sports I was in sports
00:05:13
so sometimes we had to split and go
00:05:18
separate ways but for the most part you
00:05:20
know I went to my brother's things and
00:05:22
my brother went to mine and my mom and
00:05:24
dad went to that so we
00:05:26
we were always with each other
00:05:30
Tyler and Emily's relationship was a
00:05:34
typical relationship he was annoying at
00:05:38
times to her
00:05:40
even when they were at the annoying
00:05:42
stage right
00:05:44
they still were the best of friends
00:05:46
[Music]
00:05:50
this was my favorite picture because
00:05:54
you're you look very alike you can
00:05:57
definitely tell your brother and sister
00:05:59
and your wide-eyed
00:06:02
first car I blame it on rich
00:06:05
because I said are you really going to
00:06:07
buy him for his first car a sports car
00:06:12
and we told them that if he got a ticket
00:06:14
in it to just come give us the keys he
00:06:17
had to behave himself he did get a
00:06:19
ticket one time
00:06:28
[Music]
00:06:33
February 20th 2016 I woke up and I
00:06:37
didn't have to work because it was
00:06:38
Saturday my dad did though so he he made
00:06:42
sure to let me know like hey I'm glad
00:06:44
you're sleeping in I'm going to work at
00:06:47
5am and we were gonna go do our taxes
00:06:51
after he had gotten out of work
00:06:54
Emily met rich and I at the tax place
00:06:58
and we got our taxes done Tyler wasn't
00:07:01
working yet
00:07:03
Tyler had decided that he was going to
00:07:06
go pick up his girlfriend and he wanted
00:07:08
to look for a truck for his business
00:07:11
that he wanted to start
00:07:14
I had gotten in a fight with my
00:07:17
boyfriend at the time
00:07:19
um and
00:07:21
so I was talking to my dad about it
00:07:22
before my mom got to the taxes
00:07:31
every Saturday usually my daughter and I
00:07:35
liked to country line dance and so there
00:07:39
was a country line dancing bar not very
00:07:42
far from here
00:07:45
night
00:07:47
really like nauseous like I was really
00:07:50
nauseous I was really sick my stomach
00:07:51
hurt and I didn't know why
00:07:53
I was like I'm just gonna like take some
00:07:56
meds and try to go to sleep and see if I
00:07:59
can you know feel better in a couple
00:08:00
hours
00:08:01
my mom had gone out with my boyfriend at
00:08:04
the time they went to Cowboy Up
00:08:07
I was at the country line dancing bar
00:08:09
Emily was sleeping in her apartment and
00:08:12
I didn't know this but rich and Tyler
00:08:14
were out with Alexis and Tyler was
00:08:17
showing Rich the trucks that he had
00:08:20
looked at that day
00:08:22
but I didn't know that as far as I knew
00:08:24
they were at home
00:08:26
[Music]
00:08:31
on February 20th I was actually at my
00:08:35
house and was getting ready for bed when
00:08:38
I got a call from one of our Detectives
00:08:40
at the State Police you said that we had
00:08:42
a quadruple homicide
00:08:45
[Music]
00:08:47
I was also informed that the shooting
00:08:50
was likely related to two previous
00:08:54
shootings that happened the same day in
00:08:57
the Kalamazoo area
00:08:58
I got dressed and immediately responded
00:09:03
to the scene
00:09:06
I remember somebody coming up to me at
00:09:09
the country line dancing bar and telling
00:09:13
me hey do you think that we should call
00:09:16
Emily and they said well there's
00:09:19
somebody going around Kalamazoo shooting
00:09:23
people and I'm like what where
00:09:27
it was
00:09:29
on Stadium Drive which was a ways away
00:09:33
from where her apartment was
00:09:36
I'm like no she's third level apartment
00:09:38
she's back in the woods like there's no
00:09:40
way that anything's gonna don't upset
00:09:43
her because she doesn't need to know
00:09:48
we went about our night we ended up
00:09:50
leaving early because I was ready to
00:09:52
leave and her boyfriend was ready to
00:09:55
leave so I went out got in the car he
00:09:58
was driving
00:10:01
um
00:10:02
and I plugged in my phone charger and
00:10:06
you know I have all these millions of
00:10:09
texts from my twin sister
00:10:11
and I had a missed call from Alexis's
00:10:16
mom on my phone and
00:10:20
I was reading my sister's texts and she
00:10:24
was like where is Tyler
00:10:29
there's some guy going around you know
00:10:32
shooting people and we just were trying
00:10:35
to get a hold of them so can you let me
00:10:37
know once you hear from them
00:10:40
that was basically her texts right but
00:10:43
it was over and over and over again
00:10:46
so I immediately texted Tyler and I said
00:10:52
hey Alexis's mom called my phone had
00:10:55
died so I'm just now getting it if this
00:10:58
wakes you up can you just have Alexis
00:11:00
call her mom because I'm sure she's
00:11:02
worried about her whatever
00:11:05
um
00:11:06
and usually Tyler will respond back and
00:11:10
say okay
00:11:13
um to know that he got the text and he
00:11:16
didn't
00:11:22
[Music]
00:11:25
when I first received the call it was
00:11:28
not a call we would normally receive in
00:11:31
this area with that amount of people
00:11:34
that had been shot and killed
00:11:37
he also said you're not going to believe
00:11:39
this but we may have a Serial shooter
00:11:43
because they had another homicide
00:11:46
which was a double up at the Sealy
00:11:48
dealership in Kalamazoo
00:11:52
when I arrived at the scene I noticed
00:11:55
several tents that were marking fired
00:11:58
cartridge cases and different evidence
00:12:00
located at the scene as well as two
00:12:04
deceased individuals
00:12:06
lying in the parking lot covered
00:12:10
I got two right now on the ground
00:12:14
I tried calling rich and of course none
00:12:16
of them answered but I didn't think
00:12:18
anything of it because I thought if they
00:12:20
turned off their phones then I wouldn't
00:12:23
hear it right
00:12:26
when I didn't get either one of them
00:12:28
then I told her boyfriend well maybe you
00:12:31
better take me to my house
00:12:33
so that I can just check and make sure
00:12:36
that everything's okay
00:12:41
I came in through the front door I
00:12:44
noticed that the kitchen light was on
00:12:47
which was out of the ordinary but I
00:12:51
didn't really think much of it
00:12:54
um but it wasn't until I walked down the
00:12:57
hall to our bedroom
00:12:59
and I opened up the door and Rich wasn't
00:13:03
there
00:13:04
[Music]
00:13:06
it sounds like it was a slow thing but
00:13:08
it wasn't it was really super quick just
00:13:10
going through my mind and my heart sunk
00:13:13
when he wasn't in his bed
00:13:15
because I knew something had happened
00:13:24
[Music]
00:13:32
thank you
00:13:35
Let's see we have two uh down I have one
00:13:37
female in a vehicle a Range Rover
00:13:41
it appeared to be a father and son based
00:13:46
on the information that we had and the
00:13:51
son's girlfriend was also still at the
00:13:54
scene and she was being interviewed and
00:13:59
had told us that she had witnessed the
00:14:01
entire murder
00:14:03
I don't know where he came from over
00:14:06
here in total we had 16 fired cartridge
00:14:11
cases and one of the bodies was hit nine
00:14:15
times and the other was hit seven times
00:14:18
at that point Emily's boyfriend had come
00:14:21
in the front door and I had run back out
00:14:24
into the kitchen and I said it's them
00:14:27
it's them we have to go we have to go to
00:14:31
Stadium Drive
00:14:35
[Music]
00:14:36
and he's like what are you talking about
00:14:38
and so I just started yelling at him and
00:14:41
telling him to go get in the car
00:14:43
and then I called 9-1-1
00:14:46
and I told them who I was and I was
00:14:51
asking what hospital rich and Tyler were
00:14:53
at
00:14:55
[Music]
00:14:57
Emily's boyfriend said let's go
00:15:00
get Emily or let's go we should go check
00:15:03
on Emily
00:15:05
and so I'm like okay and so I gave the
00:15:08
9-1-1 operator the address of her
00:15:11
apartment
00:15:14
the whole ride there I was trying to get
00:15:16
her to tell me and I said the news said
00:15:19
that the sister was in the back seat I
00:15:24
said it wasn't I said if this is Tyler
00:15:26
and Rich it wasn't the sister it was
00:15:29
Tyler's girlfriend Alexis and I said is
00:15:33
Alexis okay
00:15:35
and the 911 operator said yes
00:15:39
and I heard my mom scream from out in my
00:15:42
parking lot and I looked at the time and
00:15:45
it was like three o'clock in the morning
00:15:47
and I was like what in the world is
00:15:49
going on
00:15:51
she came downstairs and she walked out
00:15:53
and I was at the back of the car and
00:15:56
and I just looked at him and I just kept
00:15:58
saying they're gone they're gone Daddy
00:16:00
and Tyler they've been shot they're gone
00:16:06
throughout the day on February 20th 2016
00:16:10
there are various 911 calls made at
00:16:12
Kalamazoo dispatch it started with the
00:16:16
shooting over at The Meadows Apartments
00:16:21
and then that segued into a second
00:16:26
shooting up at the Sealy right of
00:16:29
Richard and Tyler Smith
00:16:32
emergency
00:16:45
okay
00:16:48
and then the last shooting was the
00:16:52
culmination of of the other two which
00:16:55
took place at the Cracker Barrel located
00:16:57
on 9th Street in which five individuals
00:17:01
were shot
00:17:06
hello 911
00:17:12
are you okay ma'am
00:17:14
Cleveland shot where were you shot
00:17:19
I
00:17:21
think your heart okay we've got help on
00:17:24
the way
00:17:27
my instincts were because of the related
00:17:31
crimes that we had
00:17:34
that we are going to have to move as
00:17:37
quick as we can on this because if these
00:17:40
three crimes are related this person is
00:17:42
not going to stop
00:17:45
[Music]
00:17:46
I just thought it was a nightmare and
00:17:50
I wasn't really even hearing the words
00:17:54
that they were saying
00:17:57
all I kept saying is I you know whatever
00:18:00
they said I don't even know what they
00:18:01
said but
00:18:03
I remember that I said what do we do now
00:18:10
I dropped to my knees right in front of
00:18:12
the garage and I just yelled I yelled at
00:18:17
God and I just said I don't know what
00:18:20
you're doing like why why rich and Tyler
00:18:24
why me why us
00:18:30
[Music]
00:18:36
I was at home in the evening I received
00:18:39
a few texts from friends that they
00:18:41
thought something was going on in
00:18:43
regards to
00:18:44
someone shooting guns in the community
00:18:48
and then I received an alert from our
00:18:50
law enforcement Folks at Kalamazoo
00:18:52
Department of Public Safety just sort of
00:18:55
alerting me that some issue an incident
00:18:57
was happening they weren't sure what but
00:19:00
it was happening throughout the area and
00:19:03
that there was a Manhunt on for the
00:19:05
Killer
00:19:08
the feeling that was going through my
00:19:10
head at the time when I saw the bodies
00:19:12
was that we had a father and son that
00:19:15
had been murdered and it looked as if
00:19:18
from the placement of how they were
00:19:21
laying that the father was attempting to
00:19:24
protect his son either when they fell
00:19:26
before they fell or after they had been
00:19:29
hit by gunfire
00:19:32
it was pretty clear from the way that
00:19:34
the bodies were lying that Richard was
00:19:37
trying to protect Tyler in his last
00:19:39
moments he must have seen the man with a
00:19:42
gun and at least tried his best to
00:19:44
intervene and save his son which was not
00:19:47
possible and for the First Responders to
00:19:50
come there and to have seen the scene
00:19:51
like this
00:19:52
you can just imagine that while they see
00:19:55
traumatic things all the time how
00:19:57
difficult this scene must have been for
00:19:58
them
00:20:00
[Music]
00:20:03
I really was a little fearful of what
00:20:07
was going on not knowing where this
00:20:10
individual would end up next not knowing
00:20:12
whom they would be near I certainly made
00:20:15
a quick call to my family making sure
00:20:16
that they were all home and safe
00:20:19
it was really scary
00:20:24
when I heard that Tyler's girlfriend was
00:20:27
at the scene hiding in their vehicle
00:20:30
and saw what had occurred
00:20:34
I I just felt horrible for her I knew
00:20:36
she was a young girl and to see
00:20:38
something like that is so traumatic for
00:20:41
anyone
00:20:43
and for her to maintain that composure
00:20:45
in that situation after seeing what she
00:20:47
did and not screaming and then having
00:20:49
the wherewithal to call 9-1-1 to get the
00:20:52
information was amazing
00:20:55
[Music]
00:20:59
thank you
00:21:02
I didn't really like have an emotion
00:21:03
like I don't remember having like
00:21:05
feelings I just felt numb
00:21:07
foreign
00:21:10
I smoked cigarettes at the time so I
00:21:13
just went out on my deck and just
00:21:15
probably smoked an entire pack of
00:21:17
cigarettes because that's what I did
00:21:20
um and my mom called my aunt and told
00:21:24
her what had happened
00:21:26
um
00:21:27
and then the police officer who told me
00:21:31
ended up asking me if I could tell him
00:21:33
where my dad's mom lived so that they
00:21:36
could go tell her what was going on and
00:21:39
I got angry at them which
00:21:42
I feel bad about now
00:21:45
so I said I'll tell her so they finally
00:21:48
like all left
00:21:50
and one officer came back and knocked on
00:21:54
my door and like I opened it and he just
00:21:55
gave me a hug I remember that one
00:22:00
because I mean it probably traumatized
00:22:02
them
00:22:04
that was like the worst thing Kalamazoo
00:22:06
probably had ever seen
00:22:09
[Music]
00:22:13
I'd never experienced anything like this
00:22:15
I had heard of shootings and was alerted
00:22:17
to shootings as mayor or not a super
00:22:20
dangerous town
00:22:22
this incident was so widespread
00:22:26
I was trying to understand what is going
00:22:28
on why is this happening we've had so
00:22:32
many mass shootings in our country I
00:22:35
thought this one was different because
00:22:36
it was happening in different places
00:22:40
I can't remember when I found out that
00:22:43
there were other victims I can't
00:22:45
remember
00:22:46
if I found out that night the detectives
00:22:50
might have told us while we were at
00:22:52
Emily's apartment but I honestly don't
00:22:54
remember
00:22:55
we'll never know what made him go to
00:22:58
different scenes what made him choose
00:23:01
rich and Tyler I don't even know like
00:23:04
it's all a blur it still is Oliver
00:23:14
[Music]
00:23:27
what we have here is the video
00:23:29
surveillance of the Kia dealership on
00:23:32
February 20th 2016.
00:23:37
and you can see right here is the Smiths
00:23:42
pulling in in their vehicle to go look
00:23:44
at the cars on a lot
00:23:47
after that we see a second vehicle Drive
00:23:51
In
00:23:52
it goes by The Smith's car that's parked
00:23:55
in the lot with the lights on
00:23:59
starts walking toward Richard and Tyler
00:24:01
Smith
00:24:03
then stops for a minute to check
00:24:07
something in his right pocket which I
00:24:09
believe is the gun
00:24:11
the surveillance videotape from the car
00:24:14
dealership was invaluable to police they
00:24:17
were able to get some information about
00:24:18
the build and the look of the person who
00:24:21
had done this the type of car he was
00:24:23
driving and even some information about
00:24:25
his tags
00:24:27
I was clearly indication that this was a
00:24:30
stranger who had committed the murders
00:24:34
entirely random shooting
00:24:42
initially we had a lead on a potential
00:24:46
dark color vehicle that was gleaned
00:24:49
through surveillance footage at both
00:24:52
Seeley Wright the car dealership as well
00:24:55
as the Cracker Barrel
00:24:57
we also had two witnesses that saw a
00:25:00
vehicle leaving the Cracker Barrel at a
00:25:02
high rate of speed
00:25:03
after our victims had been shot in the
00:25:08
parking lot
00:25:10
I'm at the um Kalamazoo Cracker Barrel
00:25:13
on those big gunshots in a car there's
00:25:15
gunshots in a car yes
00:25:20
two cars have been shot up there's three
00:25:22
people in one car and one guy is not
00:25:26
moving which to the Apple that fired the
00:25:29
gun it's a blue HHR dark blue and it
00:25:33
drove off right as we pulled up
00:25:35
we had a vehicle description which was a
00:25:39
Chevrolet HHR dark colored vehicle
00:25:42
so with all of that information put
00:25:46
together it was at that point that he
00:25:48
became the primary suspect
00:25:51
he's running back
00:25:54
to his vehicle
00:25:56
which is the HHR he gets into the
00:26:00
driver's side
00:26:03
turns on a light
00:26:05
pulls out
00:26:07
and then continues out of the frame
00:26:09
[Music]
00:26:14
we know the gunman killed some people
00:26:17
randomly at Cracker Barrel which was in
00:26:20
the middle of nowhere so that indicates
00:26:22
that this this perpetrator is mobile
00:26:24
he's traveling around to random places
00:26:26
and that must have made it even more
00:26:28
terrifying for the citizens of Kalamazoo
00:26:30
because nowhere is safe
00:26:35
I found out that the police had a
00:26:37
suspect from the police officer we
00:26:40
didn't know anything other than that we
00:26:42
knew he was a man we didn't know how old
00:26:44
he was we didn't know anything about him
00:26:47
so we found out
00:26:49
um on the news who he was
00:26:53
really important for the police to be
00:26:55
able to catch a spree killer because by
00:26:58
their very nature they're random so they
00:27:00
could go on indefinitely until the
00:27:02
perpetrator was caught
00:27:10
Jason Dalton became the suspect when
00:27:14
when he was pulled over
00:27:16
in Kalamazoo at 12 40 AM
00:27:20
and at that point when he was pulled
00:27:22
over he was in possession of a bullet
00:27:24
resistant vest which he was wearing as
00:27:28
well as a nine millimeter firearm
00:27:32
he was pulled over
00:27:34
and
00:27:36
it was actually a traffic stop that was
00:27:39
I don't want to say routine but not what
00:27:42
you'd expect
00:27:48
come over here on your side here what I
00:27:51
was expecting to happen when this
00:27:53
individual got pulled over is he or she
00:27:55
was going to shoot at police
00:27:59
and or maybe kill himself which is
00:28:03
common in these types of situations but
00:28:05
that is not what happened
00:28:15
at 41 minutes
00:28:19
when I was first notified about the
00:28:20
cases approximately about 7 A.M
00:28:25
I responded to the fifth district
00:28:26
headquarters office where I made contact
00:28:29
with all the investigators that they
00:28:31
were pretty tired they'd been working
00:28:32
all night I spoke with Lieutenant
00:28:34
Christensen they gave me a quick
00:28:36
briefing advice that Mr Dalton the
00:28:38
suspect was uh saying that he was having
00:28:43
issues with the Uber app that had caused
00:28:46
him to
00:28:47
do this situation do the shooting as I
00:28:50
was leaving to go speak to him our phone
00:28:54
tech was working on Mr Dalton's cell
00:28:57
phone so I asked to look at his pictures
00:28:59
to see
00:29:00
what was important to him and he had on
00:29:02
he had very few pictures of his family
00:29:05
and he had a lot of pictures of a black
00:29:08
German Shepherd as I was a former dog
00:29:10
handler
00:29:12
had worked a German Shepherd myself it
00:29:14
gave me a conversation piece to be able
00:29:16
to talk to him
00:29:18
Dalton's state of mind that day was odd
00:29:22
to say the least the fact that he had
00:29:24
killed the people that he did and was
00:29:27
still picking up fares in between these
00:29:30
killings is odd and strange
00:29:33
however could those individuals Within
00:29:36
those Vehicles when he's picking up a
00:29:38
fair been a victim they could have been
00:29:41
but
00:29:42
it didn't fit the method of operation or
00:29:46
his Mo that he was using that day
00:29:51
in a case like this where there's an
00:29:53
Uber driver and he is picking up random
00:29:55
people a lot of times you think well why
00:29:58
wouldn't you choose then to be his
00:29:59
victims knowing the app saw exactly
00:30:02
where he would go and pick people up and
00:30:05
drop them off so if he killed them he
00:30:08
thought he would get caught too quickly
00:30:09
and he wanted to be able to commit more
00:30:11
murders that way
00:30:14
when I made contact with Mr Dalton for
00:30:16
the first time he was seated in a small
00:30:18
room at the Kalamazoo County Jail he
00:30:21
initially thought that I was his
00:30:22
attorney and I advised him I was not and
00:30:25
I told him my name and I told him I rank
00:30:27
with the state police
00:30:29
he initially stated that he didn't want
00:30:32
to speak with me I asked him if he liked
00:30:34
soda
00:30:35
and he advised that he did so I I asked
00:30:38
him if he wanted a Coke he said he would
00:30:40
like to have a Coke
00:30:41
so I gave him one of their coca-colas
00:30:43
that I had purchased on the way to the
00:30:46
interview and Mr Dalton and I sat and
00:30:49
just talked about just general things
00:30:50
and we had to drink a Coca-Cola together
00:30:55
we did develop information that Dalton
00:30:58
visited gun shops prior to these
00:31:00
shootings
00:31:01
we also know that Dalton had weapons in
00:31:06
the past guns he was an avid shooter
00:31:10
the fact that he was armed and how he
00:31:14
switched Vehicles how he switched guns
00:31:16
after it didn't work definitely tells me
00:31:19
that these acts were premeditated by him
00:31:22
and he just pulled right over right over
00:31:24
the other gun on them
00:31:36
so when I spoke to him about his German
00:31:39
Shepherd he was very open
00:31:42
right after the the whole dog
00:31:44
conversation
00:31:46
we had known that Dalton liked guns he
00:31:50
actually told me
00:31:52
that he had used a German gun
00:31:55
during this incident
00:31:58
this was the first time a crime
00:32:00
like this happened in the City of
00:32:02
Kalamazoo it actually
00:32:05
brought a lot of different people I
00:32:09
think together in a good way
00:32:11
after after these tragic incidents
00:32:14
happen
00:32:16
[Music]
00:32:17
our community rallied around us so much
00:32:20
and like you know the amount of vigils
00:32:22
and you know
00:32:24
support and love that we were given from
00:32:26
the community was just endless
00:32:29
um
00:32:30
but it was almost overwhelming
00:32:38
[Music]
00:32:42
thank you
00:32:44
[Music]
00:32:49
foreign
00:32:50
[Music]
00:33:00
Jason Dalton killed six people
00:33:03
[Music]
00:33:05
I sat and spoke to him for several hours
00:33:09
for the why it was not ever asked
00:33:12
[Music]
00:33:17
he was a little chubby old man he had to
00:33:21
hide behind a car and sneak up on him
00:33:25
and take him by surprise
00:33:26
[Music]
00:33:29
otherwise
00:33:30
he never would have gotten
00:33:33
[Music]
00:33:35
away with anything they would have
00:33:37
stopped right there right there at Sealy
00:33:40
it would have stopped had they known he
00:33:43
was there and had they known what he was
00:33:45
planning to do
00:33:48
I only imagine how shocking it must have
00:33:51
been not just to see a man who appears
00:33:55
someone out of nowhere on this car lot
00:33:57
after hours but then the next thing they
00:34:00
see is that he has a Gun there's
00:34:02
absolutely nothing good that's going to
00:34:04
come next
00:34:06
Jason Dalton was very calm he was very
00:34:08
Collective he was very proper he knew
00:34:11
that there was nothing that he could do
00:34:13
to turn this around or to change what
00:34:16
had happened he actually referred to
00:34:18
himself as a monster and
00:34:21
he knew that there was nothing that he
00:34:23
could say or do
00:34:25
to make anything right about this
00:34:27
situation
00:34:29
to this day I regularly think about that
00:34:31
situation and the entire
00:34:36
sequence of events that day and what a
00:34:38
tragedy is and was
00:34:42
sorry I'm getting a little emotional
00:34:43
here sorry
00:34:50
I I felt
00:34:53
he living here and growing up here that
00:34:55
we were different doesn't mean that we
00:34:58
were perfect and that we didn't have
00:35:00
things that we shouldn't have had happen
00:35:02
in this community whether it's around
00:35:04
guns or violence
00:35:07
but we had never seen anything at this
00:35:09
level before
00:35:11
there were ceremonies at churches there
00:35:14
were gatherings in our Parks Candlelight
00:35:16
vigils everyone trying to make sense
00:35:19
of a senseless act you just can't make
00:35:22
sense of
00:35:23
any of this you just can't
00:35:35
the day that we were supposed to go to
00:35:37
trial he pled guilty to everything but
00:35:40
he waited of course
00:35:42
for however many years that was which
00:35:45
again cowardly maybe he thought he was
00:35:47
going to get off on being insane
00:35:49
oh he's insane all right but it's
00:35:52
nothing that he can hide behind
00:35:57
um
00:35:57
he knew full while what he was doing
00:36:01
and
00:36:03
just didn't want to sit through and hear
00:36:06
it
00:36:08
because he knew
00:36:10
what was what a trial was going to be
00:36:12
and that every little detail was going
00:36:14
to come out and he didn't want to tell
00:36:16
why he wanted the focus to be on him but
00:36:19
he didn't want that kind of attention
00:36:22
Kalamazoo County state of Michigan
00:36:24
defendant did murder Tyler Smith
00:36:27
guilty of this offense it is a felony
00:36:30
punishable by it for life in prison
00:36:32
you understand the charges being made
00:36:34
against you and then maximum sentences
00:36:37
that I just stated
00:36:43
right from the beginning of the
00:36:45
arraignment through the court process he
00:36:49
was not remorseful he was acting very
00:36:53
strange she would have outbursts during
00:36:54
the courtroom and would say things that
00:36:58
didn't make sense his behavior in the
00:37:01
courtroom was bizarre which ultimately
00:37:04
we did not go to trial on this and he
00:37:07
ended up pleading two his charges
00:37:11
we all got called and said that he was
00:37:14
pleading guilty and The Plea was
00:37:17
happening at like 10 o'clock when we
00:37:19
weren't even supposed to be there until
00:37:20
like noon we got there and he pled
00:37:23
guilty to everything that he did and I
00:37:26
mean he just he did the bare minimum he
00:37:29
never said anything more than just
00:37:31
answering the judge's questions he said
00:37:33
yes they read off the names of every
00:37:36
person and hearing my brother and my
00:37:39
dad's name red off
00:37:42
with murder and then him saying yes was
00:37:47
very very very hard to hear because
00:37:51
there was no emotion
00:37:53
it was just like he was answering uh do
00:37:56
you want pizza for dinner
00:37:59
I've heard a lot of Victim Impact
00:38:01
statements and what was different about
00:38:03
this impact statement was just the sheer
00:38:06
amount of
00:38:08
victims
00:38:10
families
00:38:12
the amount of people that were affected
00:38:15
that was different but obviously the
00:38:18
impact statements themselves were tragic
00:38:21
it's a horrible situation
00:38:24
and I wouldn't have expected them to be
00:38:26
anything anything but
00:38:30
when I was doing the victim impact
00:38:33
statement I might have been looking at
00:38:35
the judge because the judge was like up
00:38:37
in front of me and we were we were told
00:38:40
that we had to direct the victim impact
00:38:42
statement to the judge other people
00:38:45
tried to direct things at him and they
00:38:47
were changed because we weren't allowed
00:38:49
to
00:38:51
Jason Dalton was sentenced to life in
00:38:53
prison it was inappropriate
00:38:56
sentencing for his actions
00:38:59
I have never met someone who has no
00:39:04
emotion I personally believe that he's a
00:39:07
psychopath you can see when someone has
00:39:09
empathy or has sorrow or
00:39:13
feels like they've
00:39:15
done the worst thing in the world like
00:39:17
you could you could tell that in a
00:39:19
person
00:39:20
and he sat there like he was
00:39:25
being accused of cheating on a test and
00:39:28
he didn't care
00:39:33
I don't wish him well
00:39:35
I don't wish him any sort of Happiness
00:39:38
whatsoever I'm glad that he is in prison
00:39:42
for the rest of his life
00:39:45
no sentence no nothing will ever be
00:39:47
enough for me
00:39:49
my only hope is that one day he feels a
00:39:52
shred of the pain inside that I deal
00:39:55
with on a regular basis it just seems
00:39:59
like nothing will ever be enough nothing
00:40:02
will ever
00:40:03
be able to take away what happened to me
00:40:06
or to them or to anyone that he ruined
00:40:09
their lives
00:40:10
and it just makes it worse that he
00:40:13
doesn't even care
00:40:15
I think he killed six people that day
00:40:18
because for whatever reason
00:40:22
felt that that's what he had to do
00:40:25
and because of the randomness of it and
00:40:28
how he went about it and the
00:40:30
recklessness of it it seemed as though
00:40:32
in his mind he said I have to do this
00:40:36
over a couple of weeks from interviews
00:40:39
and background that we did
00:40:41
he had been becoming paranoid and I
00:40:45
believe that played a part in it as well
00:40:48
I want him to suffer and that's not
00:40:50
Christian of me I should not say that
00:40:54
but that's truly how I feel
00:40:57
he has
00:40:59
destroyed
00:41:01
my life and my family life and took my
00:41:06
daughter's daddy away
00:41:08
she walked down the aisle carrying his
00:41:11
urn
00:41:12
I have one voicemail left he was calling
00:41:15
me to let me know that he was going to
00:41:16
be late it was like I can't be there I
00:41:19
love you kid and so I put that in the
00:41:22
beginning of the video
00:41:24
and I sat in the middle of the Dance
00:41:27
Floor by myself while the video played
00:41:30
and the pictures and the song and um
00:41:34
bawled my eyes out
00:41:37
[Music]
00:41:38
I remember them and every single thing I
00:41:40
do I remember them I don't walk down the
00:41:44
side of the road or walk out my door or
00:41:47
drive down the road without having a
00:41:49
thought about them or a memory about
00:41:51
them or
00:41:53
I wonder what they're doing in heaven or
00:41:55
you know like every single day I wake up
00:41:58
and and something somewhere
00:42:01
and it's not very hard reminds me of
00:42:04
them
00:42:05
um
00:42:07
I just hope
00:42:09
that I'm making them proud
00:42:12
and that
00:42:18
eventually I'll be able to see them
00:42:19
again
00:42:20
[Music]
00:42:27
I feel horrible about what happened that
00:42:30
day it was a very tragic day for a lot
00:42:33
of innocent people that did absolutely
00:42:36
nothing wrong
00:42:38
um they just had the unfortunate
00:42:40
circumstances of coming across Jason
00:42:43
Dalton
00:42:44
as far as Jason Dalton I don't
00:42:47
understand why he would have done what
00:42:49
he did
00:42:50
I feel that Justice was done
00:42:53
in this case
00:42:55
from a legal standpoint with regard to
00:43:00
the sense that was handed down I believe
00:43:03
this was a first degree murder which is
00:43:05
the most serious crime you can commit in
00:43:09
the state of Michigan however the
00:43:12
families are still suffering with loss
00:43:14
all of them are and
00:43:18
certain victims trauma from the event
00:43:21
so in that regard it's still difficult
00:43:26
for the families every single day that
00:43:30
they wake up
00:43:31
[Music]
00:43:32
so Justice was done legally
00:43:36
but
00:43:37
they're still
00:43:39
Injustice in the acts that he committed
00:43:42
and how he affected these families
00:43:45
I've written him hundreds of letters
00:43:49
that I've never sent
00:43:51
because
00:43:54
I don't have any words for him because
00:43:56
nothing I say will ever
00:43:58
change
00:44:01
anything that happened
00:44:05
as much as my mom and I miss them and
00:44:07
wish that we were also a family my mom
00:44:10
and I have each other and Tyler and Dad
00:44:12
have each other I guess it gives me
00:44:14
comfort knowing that they aren't alone
00:44:18
[Music]
00:44:21
I really want to know why and
00:44:24
I really want to just tell them that
00:44:29
there are no words
00:44:31
to describe
00:44:35
what this has done to
00:44:39
me and my daughter and my family
00:44:46
there are no words to describe
00:44:50
[Music]
00:44:54
what type of
00:44:56
[Music]
00:44:57
troubled evil
00:45:00
Soul could do something like this
00:45:03
[Music]
00:45:09
[Music]
