A Michigan teen shopping for cars with his father, and a group of friends who had just seen a play, were the six innocent victims shot and killed allegedly by Uber driver Jason Dalton.
Tyler Smith, a 17-year-old Mattawan High School senior, was with his dad, Richard, 53, at the Seelye Kia dealership in Kalamazoo, Mich., when Dalton arrived in his Uber car at about 10 p.m. and allegedly opened fire, killing them both.
Social media was flooded with tributes to Smith.
“RIP Tyler Smith. You were an amazing friend. I can’t believe you are gone. I will miss you man,” wrote Shane McBride.
“To good to go this soon! I hope it wasn’t true when I heard about this tragedy! God accepted two amazing angels,” Kelly Neuman Klutts wrote with a collage of the Smiths.
About 15 minutes later, Dalton allegedly showed up at the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant, where four friends who had watched a play were just ending their evening and were heading home in separate cars.
Three women in a Chevrolet Cruze — Mary Jo Nye, 60, Dorothy Brown, 74, and Barbara Hawthorne, 68 — died and a 14-year-old girl was critically injured.
Nye’s sister-in-law, Mary Lou Nye, 62, was alone in a separate car and was also killed.
Mary Jo Nye, a retired teacher from Battle Creek, Mich., was remembered for her passion for working with at-risk students.
Tara Egnatuk, who worked with her at Calhoun Community High School for six years, said she encouraged students to take “baby steps” to see a major improvement in their writing.
Dalton’s first victim of the night was at a housing complex, where he shot a woman four times in the parking lot of Meadows Townhomes around 5:30 p.m., authorities said.
She was in serious condition at a local Michigan hospital, but was expected to survive.