Arizona police nab suspect in highway shootings

Police have linked Merritt to the first four shootings


Afp September 19, 2015
Police have linked Merritt to the first four shootings. STOCK IMAGE

LOS ANGELES: Police in the southwestern US state of Arizona said late Friday that they caught a suspect in a spate of shootings targeting motorists on a busy freeway.

"We got him!" read a tweet from Arizona Governor Doug Ducey.

A SWAT team from the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) "is in custody of the individual suspected of I-10 shootings. Apprehended moments ago."

"Subject is in custody because the weapon that he owned is forensically linked to the crime," DPS director Frank Milstead later said at a press conference.

A spokesperson for the governor identified the suspect as 21-year-old Leslie Allen Merritt.

Police have linked Merritt to the first four shootings, but Milstead warned that there could be still be "copycat" shooters.

Local media reported that he was arrested as he exited a Wal-Mart store along with a woman and a young child.

At least 11 shootings have taken place on or near Interstate 10 in Arizona since August 29, including a semi-trailer being struck in the side by a bullet, police told AFP.

The only injury has been a teenage girl who was cut by flying glass when the window of the car she was traveling in was shattered by a bullet.

Milstead earlier said the shootings amount to "domestic terrorism," and a reward of $20,000 was being offered for information leading to an arrest.

The first shootings saw two cars and an empty tour bus being struck by bullets in separate incidents.

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