PHOENIX (AP) – Soft-spoken and handcuffed, a 21-year-old landscaper insists that he is not responsible for a string of Phoenix freeway shootings and that his gun has been sitting in a pawn shop for months.
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Suspect Leslie Allen Merritt, 21, was arrested Friday but maintains his innocence. He even says that the gun that was used had been sitting in a pawn shop for months and was not in his possession at the time.
Investigators matched the gun to the bullet fragments from the scene and then were able to identify the suspect using records that were kept by the pawn shop.
Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves said Saturday that detectives focused on a gun pawned by Leslie Allen Merritt Jr., and when crime lab technicians test-fired it, it was a match.
A SWAT team swarmed Merritt in a Walmart on Friday.
Police spotted Merritt taking a gun to the pawnshop on the exact same day of his arrest.
He was the only one taken into custody.
“Today we are seeing the end result of some incredible police work”, he said at a news conference.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Merritt’s father was adamant that his son had nothing to do with the shootings and anyone who says he was involved is a “moron”. He told the judge they had the wrong guy.
Les Merritt Senior says because of the arrest, his son’s Facebook videos showing him shooting targets and firing a weapon with his young son are being taken out of context.
Surveillance: The Arizona Department of Public Safety had reportedly been monitoring Merritt Jr.
A valley pawn shop is credited for playing a major role in the arrest of Merritt Jr.
“People are in fear of him”, Peter Vronsky, author of “Serial Killers: The Methods and Madness of Monsters”, told the Arizona Republic.
“It’s a stupid thing that he did and now he’s going to pay for it, possibly for the rest of his life in prison”, he says.
Graves said the investigation continues and reiterated that police still believe copycats could have carried out some of the other attacks. “Apprehended moments ago”, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey said on Twitter.
A 13-year-old girl with a slight cut to her ear is the only person injured in the spate of attacks.
Schools even kept the buses off this road to be safe. He credited good police work and public tips for helping the investigation to come together over the past few days. The man had been sentenced to probation on an endangerment conviction for excessive speeding and fleeing from police. The shootings hit a tour bus, SUV and two cars.
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.
Monday, August 31, 2015, at 4:30 am: A pickup truck was traveling east on Interstate 10 between 24th Street and 40th Street and was struck by a bullet.
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To be sure, the incidents prompted speculation on what dark motives might drive someone to fire callously on random vehicles traveling on an interstate. It was determined the hole was caused by a bullet strike.
