PHOENIX (AP) – The latest on the investigation of a series of freeway shootings in the Phoenix area (all times local):
10:15 p.m.
Authorities say the investigation of a string of shootings along Phoenix-area freeways will continue after the arrest of a suspect in connection with four of them.
Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves said that motorists should remain vigilant. The signs on the freeways urging caution will remain up, Graves said,
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9:30 p.m.
Officials say a 21-year-old man has been arrested in connection with four shootings along Phoenix-area freeways that have kept drivers on edge for weeks.
Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. was arrested Friday in connection to the shootings on Aug. 29 and Aug. 31, DPS spokesman Bart Graves said.
At a news conference, Arizona Department of Public Safety director Col. Frank Milstead said: “Over the last two weeks Arizonans have been terrified by shootings on Interstate 10 along with copycats. The weapon and the man we believe is responsible for these shootings in Arizona is in custody.”
“He is in custody because the weapon that he owned is forensically linked to these crimes,” Milstead said.
When asked if there could be other suspects, Milstead said: “Are there others out there Are there copycat? That is possible.”
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7:25 p.m.
Officials say a suspect has been arrested in connection with a string of shootings along Phoenix-area freeways that have kept drivers on edge for weeks.
A spokesman for Gov. Doug Ducey says a man was taken into custody around 7 p.m. Friday at a Wal-Mart in Glendale, a suburb west of Phoenix.
No other details were immediately released.
Since Aug. 29, there have been 11 confirmed shootings of vehicles in the Phoenix area involving bullets or other projectiles.
Most occurred along Interstate 10, a major route through the city.
There have been no serious injuries, though a 13-year-old girl’s ear was cut by glass after a bullet shattered a window of a vehicle she was riding in.
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.