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Suspect in custody in Arizona freeway shootings, governor says
Posted On Sep 19 2015
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Arizona Governor Doug Ducey’s office announced Friday night that a SWAT team was in custody of 21-year-old Leslie Allen Merritt who is suspected of the I-10 shootings in Phoenix, Arizona.
Eleven vehicles were shot at on or near the I-10 freeway running through Phoenix since August . 29, authorities have said, although some of those incidents involved bullets and others were what has been only described as projectiles.
His weapon has been connected to shootings that occurred on Aug. 29 and Aug. 31 on Interstate 10, said Col. Frank Milstead, director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
The spate of shootings in Phoenix spawned copycats on roadways elsewhere in the city – presumably by someone trying to emulate the downtown incidents. “Great work by Arizona DPS investigators and SWAT team”, he tweeted.
21 was arrested at a Wal-Mart outside of Phoenix about 7 p.m. Thursday.
He never would be a best believe,”Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesperson Bart Graves said in a newscast seminar Friday morning”.
He acknowledged it may be frustrating that the agency can’t release any details but said it was necessary for the investigation.
Matt York/AP The shootings have prompted several school districts to keep their buses off freeways, and some motorists have altered their commutes to avoid driving I-10.
There have been no serious injuries as a result of the shootings, but one teenage girl needed treatment after a bullet shattered the windscreen of a auto she was travelling in, cutting her ear.
The last confirmed shooting was on September 10, when a bullet strike was found on a truck-tractor – although it wasn’t clear when and where the vehicle was when it was shot.
The state Department of Public Safety detained him September 11 at a convenience store.
The man was sentenced to probation on an endangerment conviction for excessive speeding and fleeing from police.
Graves said progress has been made in the case since Munoz’s arrest, but did not go into detail.
