PHOENIX (AP) – Phoenix drivers who were panicked after a series of freeway shootings felt a wave of relief when Arizona’s governor blasted the news on social media: “We got him!”
The tweet from Republican Gov. Doug Ducey came just five minutes after a state police SWAT team arrested a 21-year-old father of two as he left a suburban Wal-Mart store Friday night.
But Ducey was almost immediately hit with online criticism for his implication that Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. was guilty of the shootings before he was even booked into jail or appeared in court.
And it left out a couple of key points: Investigators linked Merritt to only four of 11 shootings, and more suspects could be out there.