Suspect insists he's innocent
PHOENIX — 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 pawnshop for months.
Despite Leslie Allen Merritt Jr.’s impromptu assertion in court Saturday, investigators said they have proof that the gun wasn’t in any pawnshop at the time of four shootings they say he carried out.
Newly released charging documents detail the detective work that traced the gun to the suspect after he took it to a pawnshop. Weapons from various local pawn shops were test-fired at the state lab, Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves said.
The Glendale resident faces several charges, including aggravated assault, criminal damage, disorderly conduct, carrying out a drive-by shooting and intentional acts of terrorism. Merritt told a judge that authorities have “the wrong guy.”
In a brief court appearance, a prosecutor said Merritt should face a high bail after drivers spent the last three weeks on edge. Overall, 11 freeway shootings were reported, but Merritt is only charged in four.
“The suspect presents a dramatic and profound threat to the community,” said Ed Leiter of the Maricopa County attorney’s office. Superior Court Commissioner Lisa Roberts set bail at $1 million.
A charging document released late Saturday night by Maricopa Superior Court said investigators determined Merritt had not pawned his gun at the time of the incidents.
Merritt was arrested Friday evening after a SWAT team swarmed him at a Wal-Mart in Glendale.
Graves said the break in the case was the result of exhaustive investigative work. Evidence from shell casings and bullet fragments determined that a gun Merritt pawned was used in four of the shootings on Aug. 29 and 30, Graves said. A tour bus, SUV and two cars were hit by bullets on Interstate 10 on those days.
