“We got him!” said a tweet from Arizona Governor Doug Ducey when after three weeks of fear, the Arizona Department of Public Safety arrested a suspect that they believe is responsible for the run of highway shootings the ADPS called “domestic terrorism.” Despite the arrest however, reports of new shootings are still coming in.
Police say they have matched a gun that was previously owned by 21 year-old suspect Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. to bullets from four of the shootings using a ballistics test, but Merritt says that he’s innocent.
“I’m the wrong guy,” Merritt said during his initial court appearance. “I tried telling the detectives that. My gun’s been in the pawn shop for the last two months.”
But police say that they have records proving that the 9mm in question was not at the pawn shop when the shootings occurred – reports that are backed up by the owner of the shop.
“He did several transactions with this same firearm,” said Byron Vaughn, the general manager of Mo Money Pawn. “He did one in the beginning of July — July 19. It [the gun] was here for several days. He picked that up on the 24th. He again pawned it on Aug. 1; picked it up again on the 22nd. So it was in his possession between Aug. 22 and Aug. the 30th.”
Despite the reports, Merritt and his father both maintain the 21 year-olds innocence. The elder Merritt said that anyone who believed his son had anything to do with the shootings was a “moron.”
“He has way too much value for human life to even take the slightest or remotest risk of actually injuring someone,” said the father. He went on to accuse the authorities of arresting his son in order to find a “scapegoat” to pin the shootings on.
Despite the claims from the ADPS that they’re confident they got the right guy, reports of new shootings have continued to come in. Authorities have admitted that they aren’t even sure if it’s one gunman, multiple, if there are accomplices, or if copycats may be involved.
Merritt, the father of two small children, has been officially charged with 16 felonies. They are four counts of drive by shooting, five counts of aggravated assault, three counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm, three counts of disorderly conduct and one count of endangerment.
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Source: azcentral, hngn, kpho, abc, eastvalleytribune, huffingtonpost, washingtontimes
I think they rushed to judgement over pressure from the community. Wouldn’t be the first time law enforcement arrested a guy to calm the community
Sounds like the whole family shoots people on the highway. Sort of like an inbred version of the three musketeers.
Well….the “dude” whether innocent or not…will be railroaded, because our detectives aren’t usually the “brightest bunch in the world”.
Cops become cops to work 20 years and retire….if I knew that I could get a full 80K pension for working a mere 20 years….I would have as a kid too.
The “dude is poor”, by the looks of him…he has NO chance of getting a fair trial,….white, black or otherwise. More taxpayer $ wasted.
So I guess the lack of any abatement in the shootings comes as welcome news to at least one person.
Here’s a massive hint for the detectives: If the shootings ARE STILL HAPPENING, you have the wrong guy. Just sayin’…
Be cautious on judgment…