First Kalamazoo victim threw herself between gunman and children

Tiana Carruthers, the first victim in the Kalamazoo shooting, was shot three times after she tried to put herself between the gunman and some children who were playing outside an apartment complex.

Tiana Carruthers, the first victim in the Kalamazoo shooting, was shot three times after she tried to put herself between the gunman and some children who were playing outside an apartment complex.

Carruthers and the children, including at least one of her own kids, were outside when Jason Dalton began his rampage. The 45-year-old Uber driver drove up to the group at around 6 p.m. and asked 12-year-old Joi Coleman, “Have you seen Mazie?”

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It is not yet clear who Mazie is or why Dalton asked about her before the shooting.

Carruthers asked Dalton if there was anything she could do for him. According to Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller, she “sensed trouble” and sent the kids inside as quickly as possible. Carruthers was then shot three times, in the arms and leg, but she is expected to survive after having received multiple surgeries.

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“He shot her once and she was still running and then he shot her again and she fell. She was asking ‘Joi, help me. Joi, help me,” Joi recalled.

Dalton went on to kill six more people and injure one more before the end of his rampage and before he was arrested on Sunday morning on first degree murder charges.

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