Phoenix freeway shootings: Calls continue along freeways after arrest

Two days after the Arizona Department of Public Safety arrested a 21-year-old landscaper in the first four of a series of Phoenix-area freeway shootings, motorists continued to call in reports of shots fired.

The DPS has yet to account for the other seven confirmed shootings that have set residents on edge since Aug. 29. Officials have speculated that those shootings, said to involve projectiles such as BBs and pellets, may be the work of one or more copycats.

And so tip-line messages continued to illuminate electric freeway signs on Sunday, and a $50,000 reward for an arrest or indictment in the shootings was left unclaimed.

Phoenix freeway shootings: Bullet fragments lead to suspect Leslie Allen Merritt Jr., DPS says

"I don't feel safe, and I know I'm not alone," said Maria Gallegos of Phoenix. "When they turn those signs off, then I'll feel safe."

The DPS arrested Leslie Allen Merritt Jr., of Glendale, on Friday after officials said investigators matched the bullets from the first four shootings in late August with a gun they believe Merritt owned and pawned with a broker in central Phoenix.

Merritt, a father of two, told a court commissioner that Mo-Money Pawn had been in possession of the 9mm gun the DPS connected to the shootings for two months. Court records indicate that when the shootings occurred, the gun wasn't in "pawn status" or being held as collateral for a loan.

Merritt and his father, Leslie Merritt Sr., maintain he is innocent, as have those rallying around his fiancee. She declined to comment to a reporter who reached her Sunday morning at the Glendale apartment she and Merritt share. Supportive comments left beneath photos of the couple on her Facebook page say, "We got you 100 (percent) Leslie" and "stay strong keep your faith we (know) in our hearts that it's not true."

Bart Graves, a DPS spokesman, said Sunday that state troopers have maintained a "heightened" presence on Valley freeways and were continuing to respond to each instance reported by concerned motorists. Rocks and pebbles are the culprit behind most of the vehicle damage along the freeway, he said, but the process of analyzing damage "isn't black and white."

"Sometimes it's not very clear," Graves said. "Bullets make holes. Rocks make cracks."

"If the public has a concern, they should call the tip line," he said. "We know this is a jolting process. Everybody at DPS is aware of the attention and concern of the public at this time."

DPS: Phoenix freeway shootings probe not over despite arrest

Gallegos said she has become hyperaware of any sounds she hears and surrounding vehicles while traveling on the freeway.

On her way to pick up her daughter from a mosque in Tempe, Gallegos said, she heard "a pop" at about 2:10 p.m. Sunday while exiting Loop 202 at the Rural Road off-ramp.

A small, nickel-sized crack appeared at the bottom left corner of the windshield of the white 2008 Subaru SUV she was driving. Frightened, Gallegos avoided parking in the shoulder of the off-ramp and went directly to Tempe police headquarters. Police redirected her to the DPS, and two state troopers came to investigate shortly thereafter.

Gallegos said the noise she heard wasn't similar to the sound of a rock hitting her windshield, which has happened before.

"It sounded like someone popped their bubble gum," she said. "I've been hit by objects on the freeway, and this didn't sound like a rock hitting the car at all."

Gallegos later said the troopers determined the crack was caused by rock debris. They shot photos of the windshield and told her they'd be in touch if it was later determined the damage was caused by something else.