Bail denied for Michigan Uber driver charged with killing six

Jason Dalton, 45, who faces 16 charges, including six of murder, which can bring up to life in prison, made his first court appearance via video link and did not enter a plea. He was seen on a monitor at the Kalamazoo County jail wearing glasses and dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit as two guards flanked him.

When asked if he had a message for the community, Dalton said that he preferred to "remain silent."

The judge denied bail for Dalton and set March 3 for the next hearing.

Prosecutors alleged Dalton randomly shot multiple times at people during a five-hour period on Saturday at an apartment complex, a car dealership and a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Kalamazoo, about 150 miles west of Detroit.

Police were investigating reports Dalton also may have driven customers of the Uber car-hailing service the night of the rampage. Two people were wounded in the shooting, including a teenage girl who was initially thought to have died. No motive has been given.

"The Kalamazoo community is reeling from these senseless acts of violence that took so many innocent lives from us," said Jeffrey Getting, the county's prosecuting attorney.

Initial checks with a key federal agency and the Southern Poverty Law Center indicate Dalton was unknown to both law enforcement and counter-terrorism agencies for having any kind of known connection to extremist groups.

Reuters