'We Got Him!': Police Arrest Suspect in Random Phoenix Freeway Shootings

Arizona police arrested a suspect on Friday in the series of random shootings that has terrorized commuters traveling on Interstate 10 in Phoenix for the last several weeks.

Eleven vehicles were struck by bullets and other projectiles while traveling on I-10 between August 29 and September 10. No one was killed, but a 13-year-old girl was cut by glass that was shattered by a bullet.

On Friday, 21-year-old suspect Leslie Allen Merritt, Jr., was arrested at a Glendale, Arizona WalMart around 7pm. "We got him!" Governor Doug Ducey tweeted. "Great work by @Arizona_DPS investigators and SWAT team."

Merritt's father, Leslie Allen Merritt Sr., was in disbelief. "He has way too much value for human life to even take the slightest or remotest risk of actually injuring someone. The news channels shooting out of him being this gun-toting, redneck, hillbilly, law-hating whatever," Merritt Sr. told the Associated Press. "If you take a minute and truly look at my son's life, you will understand that there is no way — no way possible — that my son could do anything like this."

Related: Someone Keeps Shooting Cars on a Phoenix Highway

Police linked a gun Merritt owned to four vehicles hit in the eleven incidents: a tour bus, an SUV, and two cars. Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio told the AP that Merritt's gun was connected to the shootings after he attempted to pawn it.

Before it was suspended, Merritt's Facebook page sketched a portrait of a relatively normal, right-leaning young man. His social media profile says he likes guns, memes, NASCAR, Arizona Cardinals football, heavy metal, and the television series The Walking Dead.

In 2013, court records show a 19-year-old Merritt pled guilty to failure to stop at the scene of an accident after damaging another vehicle. Earlier that same year, he was charged with assault and defacing property — charges that were eventually dropped.

Merritt Sr. has a lengthy rap sheet that includes multiple convictions for forgery, misconduct involving weapons, driving with a suspended license, and possession.

Merritt Jr. could face multiple charges related to the shootings, from criminal endangerment and assault to unlawful discharge of a firearm, but as of Friday evening he had not been formally charged.

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