Prosecutors announced formal charges Wednesday, September 23, 2015, against Merritt, suspected in some of the freeway shootings that have rattled the Phoenix area.
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Leslie Allen Merritt Jr., a 21-year-old landscape gardener from the Phoenix area, was also charged with unlawful discharge of a firearm, disorderly conduct and endangerment in connection with the first four of the shootings along a 10-mile (16-km) stretch of Interstate 10 where it passes through the city.
“All I have to say is that I’m the wrong guy”.
Using the results from various ballistics tests, authorities were able to link Merritt to four of the 11 shootings. His father, Leslie Merritt Sr., even made an emotional appeal to the media to proclaim his son’s innocence.
He had previously pawned and retrieved his gun twice since July, pawn shop owner Eric Baker said.
Three possible shootings were reported on August . 29, including one in which the windshield of a sport utility vehicle shattered and a 13-year-old girl sustained a cut ear.
Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves said bullets from the handgun discovered at the store were then matched to fragments found at some of the shooting scenes.
“It should be noted the shootings stopped from August 31 until the road rage incident labor day weekend”, said Graves.
Court Clerk Aaron Nash says if charges aren’t filed within 48 hours (not counting weekends) – an order to release will be sent to the Court.
After spending Friday watching the landscaper’s home, they trailed him to the Wal-Mart, and a SWAT team moved in.
Ducey was nearly immediately criticized for implying that Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. was guilty of the shootings before he had even been booked into jail or appeared in court.
Merritt was arrested Friday, according to a spokesman for Gov. Doug Ducey.
Department of Public Safety Director Frank Milstead said the investigation continues into who is behind the other shootings.
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.
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“All I have to say is I’m the wrong guy”.
