On the evening of February 20, 2016, seventeen-year-old Tyler Daniel Smith and his father Richard Smith were fatally shot in a Kalamazoo car dealership parking lot while reportedly looking at vehicles. Tyler was a high school senior known for his love of soccer and cars. The shooter also killed four other people and seriously injured two others that night as part of a wider spree of shootings across the area.

Authorities later identified the gunman as 45-year-old Uber driver Jason Brian Dalton. Law enforcement apprehended him the following morning. Dalton reportedly told investigators the Uber app had taken control of him; he was later found competent to stand trial. In January 2019 Dalton pleaded guilty to six counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and related firearm charges, and in February 2019 he received life without parole.

Did anyone who knew Tyler or the Smith family have memories or details to share about Tyler’s life in Kalamazoo?