A 21-year-old man, Leslie Allen Merritt Jr., was arrested Friday in connection with a series of shootings in Phoenix:
Police arrested a man Friday for a string of seemingly random freeway shootings in Phoenix, adding that they had linked the man’s gun to four of the 11 cars hit. . . .
Department of Public Safety Director Frank Milstead, announcing the arrest at a news conference two hours later, said Merritt had not been formally charged yet.
Milstead said the suspect was arrested in the first four shootings, which took place on Aug. 29 and 30. The agency says the suspect faces a range of charges that include criminal endangerment, assault and unlawful discharge of a firearm.
The four shootings that police say he committed hit a tour bus, SUV and two cars, all of them on Interstate 10. No one was injured.
In an interview with CBS Phoenix affiliate KPHO-TV, the suspect’s father was adamant that his son had nothing to do with the shootings and that anyone who says he was involved is a “moron.”
Leslie Merritt Sr. told The Associated Press he believes his son is being made a scapegoat by police who were desperate to make an arrest under immense public pressure. . . .
Leslie Allen Merritt Jr.’s Facebook page, confirmed by his father, indicated he worked as a landscaper and was a gun enthusiast, but there was no indication as to why he might have been shooting at cars on the freeways.
The Facebook page shows a video of the suspect firing a rifle with a young boy at his side. The page also contains a series of pro-gun and anti-government posts.
More at the Arizona Republic. (Via Memeorandum.)
Oh sweet baby gherkins, a crisis Obama won’t let go to waste…
If this suspect is the actual shooter, I am glad Phoneix PD got him
Politicians NEVER let a good crisis go to waste.
“Pro-gun and anti-government”? I see they’re setting up their Tea Party connection already.
Have a heart! The left has been pining for a good example of right-wing violence for years now. Too often, they get excited over early reports and then are crushed when the perps turn out to be non-political, or worse, left-wing.
Precisely. Which makes me a bit skeptical about the whole thing. Then again, conservatives are more apt to actually check stuff out than jump to conclusions.
Too bad this kid isn’t a Muslim or NBP. The MSM would be crushed.
Eh, there are nuts on all sides. Anything as large as “the Tea Party” is bound to have some. But it’s hard to miss the fact that the feared “right-wing domestic terrorists” are pretty few and far between.
I for one am waiting for evidence.
Arizona Department of Public Safety, not Phoenix PD
Me, too. Remember Richard Jewell.
And Randy Weaver.
My point. Because wackadoodles are more often liberals than not.
But as you say, nuts on all sides. Be nice if people rxognized the MSM for what they are, i.e., agents of propaganda.
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Thanks for the correction, credit where credit due!
He sounded sincere to me. I hope that if he is innocent that the court system is able to determine that.