Alane Castillo has shared the story of the brave step mum who lept in front of bullets to save her children.
Speaking on CBS13, Alane opened up about the attack on the Oroville Greyhound bus where Karin Dalton, 43, lost her life after another passenger open-fired on 2 February.
“I would call her mama-bear,” said the stepdaughter, an accurate description for a mother who took the fatal bullets for her children, 14-year-old Liam and 11-year old Audrina, by covering them in the attack.
Her youngest daughter Audrina also suffered gunshot wounds during the attack. One bullet only grazed her on the ear and another bullet struck her in the bottom – doctors were able to remove it, but she is still recovering in the hospital.
“You know like the saying, heroes don’t wear capes,” said Alane of her stepmother.
“My Mom is a hero,” Karin’s other son, 20-year-old Nicholas Dalton said. “The reason my little sister is here is she protected her.”
Asaahdi Coleman, 21, is accused of acting erratically then shooting five people on the Greyhound bus in Oroville bound for Los Angeles.
Among those shot were a pregnant woman and two men. The suspect reportedly fled to a nearby Walmart after the incident, where police found him naked.
Mr Coleman failed to turn up for his first court date on Friday – the district attorney said he would not leave his prison cell. He faces 148 years behind bars if convicted on one count of murder and four counts of attempted murder.
“He was exhibiting what I think could best be described as paranoid behaviour,” Sheriff Kory Honea said, reported the New York Post. “There was some indication that he thought one of the passengers was an undercover law enforcement officer.”
Karin Dalton was originally from Seattle and travelling to Mexico via California on the Greyhound bus to visit family. She “was a loving mother and dedicated her life to her children,” said Alane on a GoFundMe page to help with funeral costs. “She would do anything for them. In her last moments she literally gave her life to protect her kids”.
