Michigan Uber Driver Pleads Guilty to Murdering Six People

An Uber driver in Michigan pleaded guilty on Monday to murdering six strangers in between picking up paying passengers.

The New York Post reports that a Michigan man charged with killing six strangers in between picking up Uber fares pleaded guilty on Monday. Jason Dalton surprised judges and lawyers who expected him to fight the charges when he almost immediately admitted to both murder and attempted murder.

Dalton now faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole. Dalton told a judge: “I’ve wanted to do this for quite a while.” Dalton admitted to shooting eight people at three locations in the Kalamazoo, Michigan, area in 2016. His victims include four women, a man, and a 17-year-old boy.

Police said that following his arrest, Dalton claimed that a “devil figure” on the Uber app was controlling him and driving him to kill on the days he committed the murders. He dropped an insanity defense in court last week and was deemed fit to stand trial.

Dalton’s defense attorney, Eusebio Solis, stated that he advised his client to plead not guilty but that Dalton insisted he wanted to spare families from more grief during the trial.