Seattle mother IDed as victim fatally shot on California bus

OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A Seattle woman has been identified as the person fatally shot inside a Greyhound bus in Northern California by a 21-year-old man who was acting erratically. Four others were wounded, including the woman’s 11-year-old daughter, authorities and her family said Friday.

Karin Dalton, 43, died at the scene of Wednesday’s shooting in the city of Oroville, where the bus stopped at a convenience store, the Butte County Sheriff’s officials said.

Dalton’s 14 year-old-son was also traveling with her and was not injured. The family boarded the bus Tuesday in Spokane, Washington, and was headed to New Mexico to visit her eldest son, Dalton’s family said.

“She died protecting her children,” Amy Logue, Dalton’s cousin, told the Sacramento Bee.

Asaahdi Coleman, of Sacramento, started shooting at passengers as they exited the Los Angeles-bound bus during a scheduled stop, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Thursday.

Coleman fled the bus and was arrested, naked, inside a Walmart after getting into a fight with a customer.

Coleman was charged Friday with one count of murder and four counts of attempted murder with a special enhancement for using a semi-automatic gun, and two weapons counts involving that same gun, Butte County District Attorney Michael Ramsey said.

Ramsey said Coleman’s arraignment was postponed until next Wednesday because he refused to leave his cell.

Coleman’s attorney, public defender Bob Marshall, did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Police received 911 calls shortly after 7:30 p.m. Wednesday that someone was shooting inside the bus outside the convenience store in the small city of Oroville, about 65 miles (104 kilometers) north of Sacramento.

Moments before the shooting Coleman, who had boarded the bus in Redding, told passengers that Los Angeles was a dangerous city and showed them a firearm he was carrying in a satchel, authorities said.

He also got agitated and accused one of the passengers of being an undercover law enforcement officer, authorities said.

Officials said they recovered a dozen 9 mm bullet casings on the bus, which also had a bullet hole through the windshield. Detectives later recovered the weapon in a nearby construction site, Honea said.

Those wounded include a 32-year-old man who was shot multiple times and a 25-year-old pregnant woman who remained at a hospital in critical condition. Dalton’s 11-year-old daughter was listed in stable condition. A 38-year-old man was treated for a minor injury and is expected to be released from the hospital soon, Honea said.

After visiting New Mexico, Dalton and her two children planned to continue by bus to Alabama, where they have family and had hoped to move to soon, her husband, Greg Dalton, told the newspaper.

“We’ve been talking about it for a couple of months,” her husband said. “I like the South, the people are friendly. She was supposed to contact me when she got there.”

Dalton, who is a truck driver, was in South Dakota when he was informed of his wife’s death. He was overwhelmed with emotion Friday and struggled to discuss what happened, the newspaper reported.

Karin Dalton’s family described her as a stay-at-home mom who was a very outgoing person with a “spunky” personality. Her husband said she took a bus on their trip across the country because it was more affordable than booking a flight with two children.

Michael Hart, Dalton’s cousin, said they were expecting the family in Alabama in the coming days.

“It’s still hard to believe,” Hart told the newspaper. “It’s just a senseless act of violence that’s going to make it difficult for the family to have any closure.”

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