Arizona officials on Friday announced the arrest of the freeway shooting suspect.
The suspect was behind a series of highway shootings in downtown Phoenix.
CNN reported:
A SWAT team has arrested a suspect in a series of shootings that occurred along a busy stretch of highway in downtown Phoenix, authorities said.
“We got him!,” Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey tweeted.
Authorities took the suspect into custody Friday night, and the investigation into the shootings on Interstate 10 is ongoing, Ducey said.
He did not provide any more details, but urged residents to stay alert and call state troopers if they have any information related to the shootings.
The rash of shootings in Phoenix spawned copycats on roadways elsewhere in the city — presumably by someone trying to emulate the downtown incidents.
Last week, Arizona State Troopers spokesman Tim Case confirmed at least 11 shootings in and around I-10 in less than two weeks, and “numerous reports” of damaged cars.
The first I-10 shootings were reported on August 29, when bullets hit an SUV, an empty tour bus and a passenger car. More shootings followed in subsequent days, with the latest one reported last week.
The gun found with the suspect is linked to the first four highway shootings.
Arizona DPS director Frank Milstead says gun found with man arrested linked to first 4 highway shootings in August. http://t.co/uJUSs84tot
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 19, 2015
UPDATE: Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. was arrested on Friday.
AZ Central reported:
With Friday’s arrest of Leslie Allen Merritt Jr., 21, law-enforcement officials said they had a suspect in at least four of the shootings in custody — news that brought relief but not necessarily closure.
Arizona Department of Public Safety Director Frank Milstead said Merritt had been linked to at least four of 11 shootings incidents through a gun he owned.