Man In Contact With Killer Of Six Gives Account

US authorities named the six victims that were randomly shot by a Uber taxi driver Dalton as Mary Lou Nye, 62, of Baroda; Mary Jo Nye, 60; 68-year-old Barbara Hawthorne and Dorothy Brown, 74, all of Battle Creek.

A man who was in contact with Dalton spoke of the time he was taken on a terrifying ride by the Uber taxi driver suspected of killing six people in a four-hour shooting spree in Michigan.

Kalamazoo Country resident Matt Mellen said he was a passenger in 45-year-old Jason Dalton's car a few hours before the rampage began on Sunday.

"We were driving through medians (central reservations), driving through the lawn, speeding along and when we came to a stop, I jumped out the car and ran away," Mr Mellen told news channel WWMT.

"He wouldn't stop. He just kind of kept looking at me, like 'Don't you want to get to your friend's house' and I'm like, I want to get there alive."

Mr Mellen leaped out of the car and called police before telling his fiancee what had happened and she posted Dalton's picture on Facebook as a warning to others.

The shootings began at 6pm on Sunday.

The first victim was a woman who was with her three children outside a block of flats when she was shot.

She was seriously wounded but is expected to survive.

The gunman next struck at 10pm, killing 18-year-old Tyler Smith and his father Richard, 53, at a car showroom.

The last and deadliest shooting came 10 to 15 minutes later at the Cracker Barrel restaurant where four more people were killed.

A semi-automatic handgun was found inside the vehicle.

Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas told local media at the time: "This is your worst nightmare, when you have somebody just driving around randomly killing people."

Police have confirmed that Dalton, who was arrested two hours later when police saw his car leaving a bar in the town, was a driver for online taxi service Uber.

Dalton, of Kalamazoo County, is due in court on Monday where he is expected to be arraigned on murder charges.

Police have said they are investigating a Facebook post which indicates he was driving for Uber during the manhunt and took at least one fare.