Transcript for Uber driver shoots mother outside apartment complex: Part 3
Reporter: It’s this sunny, unseasonably warm day in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Uber driver Jason Dalton’s day is only getting darker. He just pulled this gun on Tiana Carruthers, this mother, who’s just trying to shepherd these children across the street. I’ll never forget his face. I’ll never forget the pain that I saw in his eyes. I’ll never forget the anger that he had. She saw him pull the gun. After I realized the kids were far enough, that’s when I made a decision to just start running. He starts shooting and shooting and shooting, again and again and again. I just kept hearing bullets, just, bang, bang, bang, bang. 15 rounds. I was shot four times. I didn’t feel the bullets right away, it was like a bee sting at first. I ran to the door. Everybody’s just kind of screaming. “Someone got shot.” 911. Hello, I need an ambulance. Please hurry up, somebody fired shots. There’s been, like, nine to ten gun shots right outside our apartment complex. We need someone here. Okay, over on high meadows? For one split second I was like, “This might be it.” I tried to get under a car, but then when I realized if I just keep moving, if I just keep moving, if I just keep moving. Then he’d just continue to shoot. So I laid there. And I pretended that I was dead. And I just kept telling myself, “God, you’re gonna make it. You have no other choice. You’re gonna make it.” And I just kept telling myself, I just hope the children are okay. Lord, please. I can never forgive myself. Just make sure that they’re okay. I thought it was maybe rocks or something hitting the siding, and that’s when I checked out the window, when I saw a car was speeding off. When he pulled off, I figured it was okay to call out. I just started screaming, “Are the kids okay? Are the kids okay?” And then I heard a woman. She wanted to know about her kids. She was coherent. Then I heard more voices. A bunch of people just came arted helping her. And they were like, “Are you okay? Are you okay?” I just kept telling them I wasn’t gonna respond to any of their questions until I knew that the kids were okay. Pleasn’t move, they’re coming, okay? Please don’t move, we got the kids. Please don’t move. I’ve never met her, this was the first time, and it’s the wrong way to meet your neighbors. She’s very lucky, and those kids are very lucky, too. You physically blocked some of those bullets from where your own body to protect them. Yes. If I didn’t, and one of those children were hurt, I don’t think I could bear a child losing their life. Would I do it all over again? Hell, yeah, I’d do it again. Without a doubt. How can I help you? Dispatchers are fielding those panicked calls from the meadows, and are now starting to see similarities between those calls and the call made by Matt Mellen just an hour earlier about that erratic Uber driver. Reporter: Both reports were of a man in a silver SUV with a dog in the back, and he’s driving erratically . That’s just too crazy that the vehicles are similar, though, with a dog. The 911 dispatchers called Matt Mellen back. Hello? Hi. Did you call earlier about the Uber driver? Yeah, yeah. He picked me up from my house. Did you guys catch him? Nope, we’re just trying to see if he was involved in another incident. Okay. I have his name from Uber, it’s Jason. I did send her a picture. I remember that. Of him, ’cause I took a screenshot of his Uber profile, and I sent it to her with his name. It appears that there was a missed opportunity in this case, where law enforcement maybe could have stepped to Uber early on to identify and locate Jason. But for now, Jason is still on the road. Tiana is raced to the hospital, in serious condition. I remember just being in and out of consciousness, a lot of things are a blur. Those bullets fractured both of Tiana’s legs, her left arm, and another bullet actually entered her liver, where it still is. When you feel something moving in your body, as a woman, you remember your baby growing inside of you. That’s supposed to be a great feeling, but a bullet traveling in your body was not what I ever would imagine that I would have to go through. I remember being so angry because I couldn’t walk. I was like a child all over again. In a newsroom, you’re always listening to the scanners. You’re always monitoring the scanners. County sheriff, 13379 and units. Just be advised, the county’s taking a call of one individual shot. High meadows drive. Female down, she’s been shot several times. There was, you know, a report of a shooting. The initial shooting involving Tiana Carruthers. We didn’t hear any more. So, that pretty much went, you know, by unreported. Jason Dalton, during his getaway, ultimately strikes a vehicle nearby. He runs a red light, he sideswipes a car. I was headed north, with my wife. We were going to a place to pick up some ice cream. He came out of nowhere. He just came out from behind the other cars that were parked waiting at that red light, and ended up hitting me. 911. I need an officer to come out, I was just involved in an accident where a guy ran a red light and hit me in the intersection. The equinox was still operable, but it had some very obvious front end damage to it. It would have been easy, especially for a police officer, to identify it. If there’d have been a bulletin on the news that we’re looking for a silver equinox with front end damage, it was very unique. He wanted to switch cars at this point. Jason called his wife and asked her to meet him at his parents’ home. He gave her a gun, said, I’m not going to tell you what I’m going to do, but when you watch the 11:00 news tonight, you’ll know that it was me.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
