A Michigan Uber driver accused of killing six people and wounding two others in a 2016 shooting spree pleaded guilty to murder today, just before his trial was set to begin.

The driver, Jason B. Dalton, terrorized the Kalamazoo area on Feb. 20, 2016, when he drove wildly through the city and its suburbs, shooting people outside a car dealership, a Cracker Barrel restaurant and a townhouse complex. Over a period of hours, he gave Uber customers rides between the seemingly random shootings. The gunfire rattled Western Michigan and raised questions about Uber’s screening of its drivers at a time when the ride-hailing service was expanding into smaller cities.

“It helps with community healing, some closure,” said Mayor Bobby Hopewell of Kalamazoo. “It’s a heinous incident.”

Dalton, who was arrested the night of the shootings, initially pleaded not guilty and appeared to be headed to trial until his last-minute plea. Last year, Dalton won a case in the Michigan Court of Appeals that barred prosecutors from using incriminating statements made to police officers. Dalton had spoken to officers shortly after the shootings.

Jury questioning in the case was to begin today, with the trial expected to last two weeks. But, with families of the shooting victims gathered in the gallery this morning, Dalton changed course. His lawyer, Eusebio Solis, withdrew plans to use an insanity defense, and Dalton, shackled around his waist and wearing a dress shirt with an unbuttoned collar, stood at the front of the courtroom and pleaded guilty to every charge, including six counts of murder.

Some people in the courtroom gallery wept as officials read the names of the victims, and Dalton answered “yes” to questions about killing each of them.

“I’ve wanted this for quite a while,” Dalton told the judge when asked whether he understood his pleas.

Dalton will face a mandatory term of life in prison without the possibility of parole on the murder charges when he is sentenced next month. Solis said he had advised his client against pleading guilty.

Solis said plea discussions had been ongoing for months, but that prosecutors dropped no charges and showed no support for a lighter sentence.

Dalton’s plea left many questions unanswered about his motive in the rampage. His victims included a retired English teacher, a former state worker, a father and son shopping for cars and a teenage girl who was pronounced dead but ended up surviving.

Hopewell said the shootings had faded from daily conversation in Kalamazoo over the years, but remained imprinted on the city’s consciousness. He said people still remembered the fears during the manhunt, “Wondering what’s going to happen next? Where is this person?”

The attack, which drew national news attention to Kalamazoo, was denounced by then-President Barack Obama as another instance of large-scale gun violence. “I’ve got to assume all of you are just as tired as I am of seeing this stuff happen in your states,” Obama said.

The shooting also brought unflattering attention to Uber, whose officials at the time defended their background check process. Dalton, who had been an Uber driver for only days or weeks, had no serious criminal record.

“No background check process would have made a difference in this case because this person didn’t have a criminal history,” said Joe Sullivan, the company’s chief security officer, in 2016.

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